Saturday Racing Tips: Five Best Bets from Architect for Newbury, Ripon & Curragh

Saturday Racing Tips from Architect

Jack Darcy

A really strong line-up for the Group 3 BetVictor Geoffrey Freer Stakes and the Paul and Oliver Cole-trained Jack Darcy, at an available 7/1, must enter calculations for win purposes after a career-best second to Hamish in the L'Ormarins King's Plate Glorious Stakes at Goodwood last time and will face no horse of that one’s calibre in this field. He is also one-from-one at this course. 

This four-year-old is lightly-raced for his age but has plenty of useful form in his back catalogue and is worth a shot at this distance given how well he stuck to the task last-time-out over shorter. 

He looked to have won the race at one stage but even after being headed, he held off former Royal Ascot winner Candleford for second in game style. He could be difficult to pass if granted an easy lead.

Alpha Capture

In the Heart Bingo Summer Sizzler Handicap, which is a wide-open handicap, it is not without the realms of possibility that bottom-weight Alpha Capture will outrun his double-digit odds of 16/1 with the weekend winning-machine rider Tom Marquand getting down to do a low-weight.

This team-Haggas representative enjoyed a productive two-year-old campaign, recording two wins and two seconds from four starts, which featured a short-head second to Cold Case (now rated 110+) in the Weatherbys Scientific 300,000 2-Y-O Stakes.

He then succeeded in the Listed Coral Rockingham Stakes at York and even though he has not replicated any of his two-year-old form at three this year, he has been running much more encouraging than the literal finishing positions have indicated, keeping on well in each of his last three starts on the turf. 

Due to not being heavily competitive of late, the handicapper has reduced his mark to 85 and that mark is surely within range given he was rated as high as 103 last season and was only denied by three parts of a length to Shouldvebeenaring at Southwell back in January, who is now rated 110. 

All aspects taken into account, he is a very well-handicapped horse and has sneaked into this race at the foot of the weights. He should get the required strong pace in this larger-field scenario and is open to further improvement in the handicap ranks. He makes plenty of each-way appeal.

Pogo

The feature race at Newbury, the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes, can see the likeable Pogo, who is currently available at 5/1, run very well with conditions to suit. Charlie Hills’ seven-year-old could only finish fifth in this 12 months ago but it is plausible to think his previous third in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood had taken a lot out of him and his connections deliberately bypassed that meeting this year in order to keep him a fresh horse for this main objective. 

His victory back in October in the Group 2 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards Challenge Stakes is top-class form, in which he gave weight and a beating to Sacred who was last seen finishing a close second in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. 

He might get into a tussle for the lead with Chindit who also likes to go forward but a lighter preparation in comparison to last year can see this hardy horse significantly improve on last year’s effort. 

Aramis Grey (NAP)

No hiding place will be allowed in Ripon’s feature, the William Hill Great St Wilfrid Handicap, as this race is predominantly run at a frantic pace. Rae Guest’s Aramis Grey is a mare who I think will be well-served to the nature of this contest, as she travels strongly, and remains unexposed on the turf given she has mostly been campaigned on the all-weather. 

She was last seen finishing last of seven at Chelmsford but that was in a Listed event and she is back in a handicap plus her win/ place ratio is exceptional. If you remove her latest run, she hasn’t been out of the frame since August last year. Her only start on the turf this year saw her take third in a Listed event at Haydock, where she was nearest the finish and would have gone close to winning it with a clear run. 

It is fascinating to see her being campaigned so lightly on the turf this year and she will find this a touch easier thanks last time despite the bigger field. Her second in the All-Weather Fillies' And Mares' Championships and her win over Vadream at Lingfield is strong form, as the latter has bagged a pair of Group 3 wins this season since and is rated 108. Her mark of 95 is very attractive on the balance of her form and she looks a reasonable each-way bet at the prices. 

Snellen

In what could prove to be a great rematch between Pearls and Rubies and Snellen in the Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes, I will keep my loyalties with Gracie Cromwell’s filly Snellen to confirm her superiority over the former having beaten her fair and square in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

Aidan O’Brien’s charge is favourite to reverse the form this time but Snellen did plenty wrong in racing keenly throughout that contest and that still didn’t stop her from taking the honours to keep her unbeaten record intact. She has plenty more to offer and I would have her favourite, so her odds are more than fair.