Friday Racing Tips from Architect

I really don’t fancy Crystal Caprice for this race despite completing her hat-trick last time and at a much bigger price, I’d rather back the John Gosden-trained CRENELLE (best price 8/1) each-way here. She ran a cracker when third in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot and while she’s seven-pounds worse off with the second Zanbaq here, she has the potential to rank much higher still. 

Moreover, the combination of the first-time cheek-pieces and course-and-distance winning form certainly increases her chances, while conditions will be perfect for her too. She has a nice draw in stall 7 and has yet to finish out of the frame in all five career starts, so she’s an appealing each-way proposition in the opener with more to come. 

DOUBLE CHERRY (NAP) (best price 11/2) makes plenty of appeal in the Haldane Fisher Handicap. This three-year-old displayed promise in his first three starts behind useful opponents before easily beating a subsequent winner on handicap debut at Goodwood when partnered by Sean Levey. Given the impression he made in that race, it earned him favouritism for a high-quality handicap next time when attempting 1m6f for the first time over this course-and-distance. 

He couldn’t land a blow but still ran very well to finish sixth of 14 and that form has worked out well given the second has finished third in the St Leger since. His latest fourth at Ascot was another decent showing, as he had to come from well off the pace and wide around the field before steadily staying on in the closing stages. This is a drop in grade from his last two races and, off a pound lower mark, he should go very well here. 

OLIVIA MARALDA (best price 5/2) is a smart filly, who’s only been out of the top two once in her career so far, which came when an excellent seventh of 21 in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot from a bad draw in stall one. She bolted up at Newbury on her penultimate start and produced a career-best when second to Meditate in a Group Two last time. She has some of the best form amongst this field and connections have booked Rossa Ryan to ride, so with more to come, this Irish raider can put all of her experience to good use and emerge as the winner here. 

RICH (best price 12/1) hasn’t been seen since making a sparkling winning debut at Newbury and while she will need a lot more here, connections clearly feel she’s up to this grade, hence why she’s thrown in the deep end on just her second career start. She showed a lot of gears to easily beat a large field on her debut, including when breezing past the useful Woolhampton (placed in valuable sprints since, including a Listed event) and, while she needs more to win this, she has lots of potential, has strong form in her inventory and is worth an investment each-way with the four places widely available at double-figure odds here. 

This race has often been won by horses who have already established themselves as genuine Group 1 winners but given none of these have achieved that status yet, this is an open-looking renewal and the one I like is the quirky but equally talented MUTASAABEQ (best price 7/2) trained by Charlie Hills. He was disappointing when sent off a warm favourite for the Celebration Mile last time but that’s the second time he’s been below-par in that race, so it’s pretty evident that the course clearly doesn’t play to his strengths. 

However, his previous second to Chindit is a solid piece of form and he acts well at this venue. He should be suited to the nature of this contest and first-time headgear will be applied, so with track, trip and conditions all deemed suitable, Jim Crowley can get him back in the winners circle. Last year's second, Pogo, is feared most, who’s been in top form again this term and is well-suited to this course but he could be taken on for the lead which won’t suit and either way, the pacesetters should set this race up perfectly for the selection here. 

This is an extremely competitive race at the Midlands venue, in which a case could be made for most of these, so with this in mind, I’ll recommend having an each-way wager on FIRST SOLDIER (best price 25/1) at monster odds. Richard Newland isn’t in the greatest of form at the moment but this six-year-old shaped very well on his return here last month when third behind Light N Strike. 

He is eighteen pounds better off with that rival now, so there’s possibility he could reverse the form, yet the latter is much shorter in the betting here which makes no sense. This will be just his fourth start in the UK and the return to this longer trip could yield improvement. Off a nice mark and a tiny weight with his rider taking off five-pounds, he could easily exceed his double-digit odds with four places widely available. 

SNUGSBOROUGH BENNY (best price 8/1) has been in good form of late and ran very well when second over hurdles here just a few days ago. It is possible connections have had this race in mind all along and used that latest race as a warm-up event for today’s contest. He has a higher mark back over fences but he’s well-treated off a mark of 125, given he made the frame in the Galway Plate twice before off 144 and 146. He is three-pounds below his last winning mark and Sean Flanagan is booked to ride, so provided that latest good effort in defeat just four days ago hasn’t taken too much out of him, he is expected to be very competitive here. 

UNITED FRONT (best price 16/1) is no doubt a better horse on the all-weather and he still remains winless on the turf but he’s too well-treated to overlook here and while he could only finish fourth at Ascot last time, this race should be run to suit better. He is eight-pounds below his last winning mark and if this was an all-weather race, he would be nearly favourite, as he’s rated 105 on that surface. Mick Appleby’s charge would only need to reproduce his best on the turf to be extremely competitive here, so while the bookmakers have overlooked him, I cannot resist his available odds about him because he is capable of going close in the finale.