Wednesday Racing Tips from Architect

Anything that William Buick rides at the moment is entitled to full respect and Appointed One will prove popular here on the back of a promising second on debut but Karl Burke’s COLNAGO (best price 11/8) was equally eye-catching when a debut third at Pontefract and is fancied to emerge as the winner here. 

An expense purchase for connections, Karl Burke’s charge showed lots of promise and speed to take third at Pontefract, where he travelled well until a lack of experience probably cost him the race in the end. Whilst the front two home were also debutants, he lost little in defeat and should have learnt a lot. He should prove fully effective now tackling the all-weather and, from a good draw in stall 3, allied to the fact that Clifford Lee comes here to ride him for his boss rather than go to Southwell, suggests a huge performance is expected. 

I am drawn to the claims of grade-dropped FAST RESPONSE (best price 8/1) was never able to make any sort of inroads from a high draw at York last time but, in addition, wasn’t beaten far, when you factor into the equation that most of the beaten horses in that race basically finished in a bunch at the line. Karl Burke’s filly might have not been at all comfortable with that course having disappointed on her only previous visit and she wouldn’t be the first horse to underperform there either. 

That said, she recorded two really decent placed efforts prior to that and her seasonal debut fourth behind Boonie, alongside her fourth in a Listed event at Ayr last year, is solid form. Her only previous outing on the all-weather was when down the field in a Listed race at Chelmsford and this is a big drop in grade off a mark of 85 with Sam Feilden claiming a further seven-pounds. If she can put aside that latest showing, she is more than capable of bouncing back to her best, which would ultimately entitle her to go extremely close in a race of this nature. 

A good sprint-nursery event in which I like the look of QUEEN OF UPLANDS (best price 4/1) for the Tom Dascombe team despite only two places up for grabs due to six runners in the line-up and not eight. This filly brings a good level of form to the table, courtesy of her fifth on debut that has been positively advertised by the second and third, Woolhampton and Strawberry Belle, who acquitted themselves well in defeat in a valuable auction stakes race at Newmarket over the weekend. 

Her latest third behind All The Time at Chester is another bit of decent form too, where she showed good speed throughout and only weakened out of contention in the closing stages. I do, however, have an incline that this surface will see her pull out more under Pierre Louis Jamin, who offsets three-pounds. If she can get a prominent pitch from stall six, she may come out on top for her in-form trainer, who’s begun to hit the ground running and is his only representative on the card. 

The Karl Burke-trained SHANDY STAR (best price 9/2) got going far too late at York last time when she finished around midfield in a large-field event in this grade but she had to earlier impressed over this course-and-distance when showcasing her turn of foot to beat Jm Jungle with quite a bit to spare having been sent off quite a warm favourite by the off-time and can confirm her superiority over that rival here. 

The latter is four-pounds better off this time round but the selection brings some really strong form into this assignment, most notably her one-length second to The Platinum Queen at Ripon, which has worked out very strongly. The winner has won twice since and ran a huge race to finish second in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at York last time. If she can bounce back to her best, with Danny Tudhope in the saddle, she should be competitive here.