Growl and Right Touch a powerful Fahey team…

I’m not quite sure what happened last week but the Friday update did not take. In fact there was no disaster in this because the main selection was Lexington Abbey in the opener on Shergar Cup day and he could manage only third. He continues to run well over five at Ascot but without quite winning and I fear he will be too high in the weights in the Ayr Gold Cup, where my choice would be Projection if the ground dries out completely.

I see that Dee Ex Bee was entered for the old Washington Singer Stakes at Newbury on Saturday but Mark Johnson took him out, having mentioned Doncaster after an impressive debut victory at Goodwood. Dee Ex Bee is as good-looking a juvenile as I have seen for quite some time and his next appearance will be awaited with keen interest.

The prices do not appeal on the Newbury card. DEFOE will need to continue his winning run in the Geoffrey Freer to have a realistic chance in the St Leger and I think he can do it, although Frontiersman has to be a danger. He sometimes strikes me as a horse without a trip and the better part of a mile and three-quarters may not suit but the form is there for all to see.

On Wednesday morning, when writing the Weekend Card, I thought LIBRISA BREEZE would be one of the outsiders in the Hungerford after an unhappy run in the Lennox, where switching him to the inside in the hope that he would find the gaps did not work. Quite a few people seem to noted this and, with Saturday’s race not shaping up the way many had thought, Librisa Breeze was an alarming 5/2 chance on the overnight tissue. Well, he must surely start at a bigger price than that but there is little value in him.

I looked long and hard at the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon, together with the consolation race which precedes it. I went for GROWL in the Stewards’ Cup and I shall stay with him in the main event, though the claim is only 3lb as opposed to seven with Adam McNamara taking over from Connor Murtagh. Actually I wanted the full seven, though I still think Growl is the one to beat. As always, Richard Fahey has other chances, although Eastern Impact seems to have lost his way for the time being. The slightly dark one is RIGHT TOUCH, who has been below his best this term but has bits and pieces of form to suggest he can make his mark from near the foot of the handicap. Franny Norton is an interesting booking.

I wanted Fahey’s Gin In The Inn to contest the Silver Trophy consolation but he misses the party. No strong thoughts here, although Tim Easterby’s Rasheeq is certainly better than he showed in a very similar race at Goodwood on Stewards’ Cup day.