Betfair Official Blog

Ante-Post Punting: Leger beckons but market remains open to dramatic changes

Graham Cunningham takes a look at two of the biggest races still to come on the Flat calendar - the St Leger and the Arc.

Just two weeks to go until the final Classic of the season is done and dusted and the make-up of the St Leger field is still open to huge conjecture.

Not surprisingly, the Betfair market on the Doncaster showpiece is proving very volatile as a result, but Aidan O'Brien's Frozen Fire has come in from the cold this week after attracting significant support.

Whether the Irish Derby winner will head to Town Moor remains to be seen and there are also nagging doubts about several other leading contenders. Ralph Beckett's Oaks heroine Look Here and Derby fourth Doctor Fremantle both need to shrug off training setbacks to take their chance, while Centennial needs to be supplemented and Patkai is under a cloud after his subdued Goodwood run last week.

Patkai's stablemate Conduit looks a more certain runner and is a solid place contender over a trip he ought to relish, while the recent gamble on Tommy Stack's unbeaten filly Unsung Heroine is perfectly understandable given that she is another who will relish a stamina test at Donny.

In short, the Leger market looks bound to stay very lively as plans for the leading contenders are finalised. Doctor Fremantle is a horse I have always had plenty of time for - and he could become a real springer nearer the day - but for the moment I suspect I will be keeping my powder dry.


Zarkava the real deal....but will she stay the Arc distance?

From the moment she thundered clear in a Group 1 juvenile contest at Longchamp last October Zarkava has always looked a potential Arc filly.

Sadly, I failed to step in to take the fancy odds available through the summer and the nagging issue of stamina continues to bother me as the big day draws nearer.

Zarkava is currently trading at [4.7] for the Arc on Betfair, but she has never tackled a mile and a half and it's well worth noting that her sire Zamindar has sired just five winners at that distance in almost a decade at stud.

She's a brilliant filly alright, but the colts will pose her a much more searching question back at Longchamp on October 5. The next question is, which of the leading colts will turn up?

Instinct tells me that New Approach will be absent, while I suspect that Soldier Of Fortune could be Aidan O'Brien's main representative as opposed to Duke Of Marmalade.

The German raider Alderflug will be an interesting longshot if it comes up very muddy, while Arc maestro Andre Fabre can be relied on to have Prospect Wells at his peak after a couple of defeats under strangely negative tactics from Olivier Peslier.

As in the Leger, this is a market that will change considerably over the next few weeks, but Soldier Of Fortune has been the forgotten horse during Ballydoyle's rampant summer and he looks a solid each way option for those who feel that Zarkava is a suspect stayer.


Harrison impresses on and off the track during times of trouble

The progress made by Hayley Turner has been a regular topic for conversation on the Betfair Forum this year, while Kirsty Milczarek's graduation from popular apprentice to fully fledged rider has also been noted.

However, misses Turner and Milczarek aren't the only female riders who deserve praise for the way they have gone about their business against the boys of late.

Step forward Kelly Harrison, who rode her 22nd winner of the season aboard Killer Class at Ayr on Thursday and then proceeded to outline her plans for the future with cheerful professionalism in an illuminating interview with Racing UK's Nick Luck.

Nothing particularly unusual in that, you might say, but the fact that Harrison lost her mother Gill to a brain tumour just a couple of weeks ago makes her recent impressive record all the more praiseworthy.

Make no mistake, there are some excellent female riders around at present. Hayley and Kirsty may be cornering most of the publicity. But Kelly has kept her eye on the ball despite the sort of trauma which most of us would find very hard to cope with.