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Horse Racing

Astra to star at Ayr

May 2022

My Astra will be suited by going back up in trip and can land the Tennent's Lager British Stallion Studs EBF Rothesay Stakes for the red-hot William Haggas.

Haggas has few peers when it comes to placing his horses - he simply does not run horses in races he does not think they can win.

For example, he only sent four to the Dante meeting at York - his favourite track - but two of them won, including Lilac Road in the Group Two Middleton Stakes.

To indicate the form of his string further still, he sent three to Newbury on Saturday and all won Pattern races, with Baaeed cementing his status as the best horse in training in the UK in the Lockinge.

So bearing all that in mind, it has to be noteworthy that he is sending My Astra all the way to Ayr, a track at which he is operating at a 50 per cent strike-rate at over the last five years.

A Lope De Vega filly out of the Sea The Stars mare My Titania, she is a half-brother to smart stablemate My Oberon.

Having won her first two races with ease, Haggas sent My Astra to France for a Listed race over 10 furlongs (2000m) when she was beaten just over a length in heavy ground.

She stayed at Listed level for her reappearance at Kempton in April when she was a 5-4 favourite, but having raced keenly, it appeared she blew up close home and her effort flattened out, finishing third in a blanket finish.

With the freshness knocked off her, she she be more amenable in the early stages and given she is having just the fifth run of her life, she certainly has scope to progress.

Karl Burke's Lullaby Bay can record a quick-fire hat-trick in the Discarded Handicap.

A very easy winner at Beverley, she defied a 6lb penalty at Thirsk when value for more than the official margin of half a length.

She is now running off a mark 12lb higher than for her first win, but is clearly in rude health.

John Gosden has won Yarmouth's British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes in two of the last three years with youngsters who went on to run in Pattern company and this year his chosen representative is Faisal Road.

However, his pedigree suggests he will come into his own over further, so preference is for Charlie Appleby's Changing Colours.

By Dubawi, his dam Blossomtime was quick enough to win over six furlongs (1200m) at two and he looks a very likely type on paper.

Hughie Morrison's Bearaway will be unlucky if he bumps into a horse as good as the one who beat him last time out in the Unibet Horserace Betting Operator Of The Year Handicap at Kempton.

He was just half a length behind White Wolf, who made a winning debut for Saeed bin Suroor before finishing a creditable sixth behind Derby favourite Desert Crown when hiked in class for the Dante at York.

Bearaway makes his handicap debut off 82, but that looks fair and he should be a leading contender for top honours.

Chocca Mocha can step up on her previous form in Southwell's Visit signsolutions.org For Event Signage Mares' Maiden Hurdle, while Galahad Threepwood will take all the beating in the Join Racing TV Now William Eborall Maiden Hurdle at Warwick. - Press Association

 

SELECTIONS:

 

AYR: 14.00 Just Hiss, 14.35 Bon Marine, 15.10 Blazing Son, 15.45 Impressor, 16.20 MY ASTRA (NAP), 16.55 Maysong, 17.25 Lullaby Bay, 17.58 Smart Connection.

 

CORK: 18.10 Relevant Range, 18.40 Studio City, 19.10 Jarvis, 19.40 Rock Etoile, 20.10 Janoobi, 20.40 Urban Oasis, 21.10 Fennor Cross.

 

KEMPTON: 18.30 Wendell's Lad, 19.00 Bearaway, 19.30 Tickets, 20.00 Land Of Summer, 20.30 Thunderclap, 21.00 Ivasecret, 21.30 Placated.

 

SOUTHWELL: 18.15 Bbold, 18.50 Earth Spirit, 19.20 Tikk Tock Boom, 19.50 Benefact, 20.20 Chocca Mocha, 20.50 Kings Creek, 21.20 Camembert Electric.

 

WARWICK: 15.20 Debece, 15.55 Galahad Threepwood, 16.30 Sofia's Rock, 17.05 Great D'Ange, 17.40 Percy's Word, 18.10 Rikoboy, 18.45 Apache Creek.

 

YARMOUTH: 14.25 Russian Virtue, 15.00 Changing Colours, 15.35 Victory Star, 16.10 Tazaman, 16.45 Twelfth Knight, 17.17 Epic Express, 17.52 Habanero Star, 18.22 Amal.

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