Steve Ryder picks out his 5/1 play for the Temple Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.
Temple Stakes
This looks a strong renewal of the Group 2 Temple Stakes and the presence of Night Raider dropped in trip to 5f should ensure a strong pace for RUMSTAR (best priced at 5/1).
Jonny Portman’s stable star is a progressive sprinter who is unexposed over this minimum distance. The five-year-old won the listed Rous Stakes on soft ground at the end of last season by two lengths and put in a career best performance on his reappearance when victorious in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes at Newmarket.
With 8mm of rain forecast at Haydock on Saturday, the ground conditions could be against Night Raider who has shown his best form on rattling fast ground.
Starlust is top rated in the line-up with a rating of 115 but he has a Group 1 penalty and will no doubt have the Nunthorpe Stakes and Breeders’ Cup as his main targets towards the end of the season.
Rumstar is versatile on the ground, is unexposed over the trip and is in the form of his life so he looks a confident each way selection with conditions sure to suit.
