GC'S Weekend Racing Briefing: Soft ground no barrier for Paco Boy

General / Graham Cunningham / 15 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

Brian and Ben have been the buzz names in racing's latest attempt at a rebrand this week, but a couple of Dicks could come to the fore at Newbury on Saturday, writes Racing UK and betmaverick.com analyst Graham Cunningham as he runs the rule over the jolly and nominates a live longshot for one of Europe's flagship mile events.

Paco looks the boy now his Lockinge price has drifted

Connections have billed it as the race in which Paco Boy can finally "put his critics to bed." I must admit I was one of the doubters at the start of this week, but it is all a question of price when you are a punter and there is a strong case for arguing that Paco Boy is now very backable for the Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes now.

Look back to Monday of this week and Richard Hannon's stable star was put in as 11-10 favourite by several major bookmakers for Newbury's Group 1 showpiece. As so often happens, Betfair layers have taken a very different view. It seems safe to assume that worries about the prospect of very soft ground over a mile have resulted in Paco Boy easing out to [2.74] to win the second Group 1 of his career.

But soft ground is no barrier to Paco Boy the way I read the form book and a look back through this colt's record shows he is more than good enough to add his name to the illustrious Lockinge roll of honour.

Granted, the four-year-old failed to shine from a shocking draw in Dubai on his reappearance this spring, but he was right back on song at Sandown three weeks ago when quickening smartly to give 6lb and a narrow yet decisive beating to Dream Eater and Virtual in Group 2 company.

To my mind, that success put to bed any lingering notion that Paco Boy has chinks in his armour over a mile.

Suspect stayers don't come up the stiff Sandown hill like Paco Boy did that day and, with the Hannon team in cracking form, those who have forced his price out over the last few days might have cause to regret their decision by about 2.45 on Saturday.

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Pressing matters for those seeking a Lockinge longshot

It comes as no surprise to see Aqlaam trading as clear second favourite for the Lockinge given that he is the one horse in the race who could be capable of a great deal better than he has been able to show thus far.

However, last year's Jersey Stakes winner has clearly had training troubles to have been absent since and his ability to produce a peak performance on holding ground after a long break has to be taken on trust.

Twice Over isn't easy to assess given his lacklustre reappearance effort at Newmarket, but if there is a value alternative to Paco Boy then it could be Pressing.

Four years have passed since Michael Jarvis sent out Rakti to bolt up by five lengths in this race for owner Gary Tanaka.

Pressing is no Rakti, but he has been a high-class horse on soft ground for some while now and I suspect that backing him at double figure prices pre race with a view to trading out at around [5.0] in running could be a canny call for a horse who tends to travel very strongly indeed when he brings his A game to the races.

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Inxile backers left feeling offside by flawed French interference rule

The next sound you hear is that of an injured pocket talking - but the point is worth making and relates to the problems caused by having differing rules relating to interference in Britain and France.

Last Sunday I pinpointed the Dandy Nicholls-trained Inxile as a cracking value bet to floor the odds on France's top sprinter Marchand D'Or in a Group 3 sprint at Longchamp.

He duly proved himself the value bet, staying on strongly to hold the late challenge of Mood Music by three quarters of a length, but after a stewards' inquiry he was demoted to third for causing interference to Benbaun passing the furlong marker.

Had the race taken place in Britain then Inxile would have kept the race for sure, but under French rules he had to be placed behind the horse he interfered with and thus the prize was awarded to a horse who was beaten fair and square after suffering no interference whatsoever.

And, while admitting a vested interest in this instance, that surely can't be right. Granted, the British rules - which tend to be heavily skewed in favour of the horse who passes the post first - are still less than perfect.

However, they do usually favour the horse who has scored on merit and, with the odd exception, they do tend to be applied consistently across the board.

Put simply, having different interference rules in Britain and France is like Man Utd arriving in Paris to play PSG only to be told "we don't play offside here." It's barmy. And in my view something should be done to get the two systems operating in harmony as soon as possible.

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Plenty of room to manoeuvre at the midweek Festivals nowadays

Last but not least this week, it's worth reflecting on the way Britain's top racecourses are being affected by the credit crunch.

Chester reported that their attendances held up very well after a quiet Wednesday last week, while York reported an increase in their day one attendance before the wind and rain intervened at this week's Dante meeting.

But, without wishing to doubt what is published in the papers, I wonder whether the official verdicts tell the full story.

I wasn't alone in thinking that the roads around Chester and York were much less busy than normal on the way to the races and it also seemed far easier to move around the betting ring and the paddock area at both venues.

Perhaps officials have just got better at managing traffic and spreading their crowds around different sections of the racecourse on big days. Or maybe, just maybe, the days of packed enclosures for Britain's top midweek fixtures might be coming to an end.