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Horseracing Betting Briefing: Marmalade and New Approach to serve us a breakfast of champions

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Andrew Hughes tells us what racing fans can look forward to this week including a fine Supreme Stakes at Goodwood, Salisbury's most valuable card of the season and Duke of Marmalade and New Approach clashing again, this time at Leopardstown.

This soggy season of muddy shoes and mired stilettos will not just be known as the Year of the Brolly. It is also the summer of the great Ballydoyle blockade, the moment when the arm-lock that Aidan O'Brien has been applying to British racing for years became a chokehold.

Yet the sight of so much plunder, entire vaults full of trophy silver, disappearing freight class over the Irish Sea has been too much for some to bear. Rather than quaffing their share of Coolmore champagne, many British racing types have supped miserably from casks of Chateau Raisins Aigres. .

But haven't team Ballydoyle been abusing their position? Perhaps. Pointing out that the Juddmonte tactics breached Rule 153 is fair comment, not mean-spirited pedantry. And isn't Ballydoyle's dominance unhealthy for the sport? Don't be silly. Racing is theatre and like the best theatre, it reflects all the triumphs, absurdities and inequities of life. Rather than mope about, muttering darkly of monopolies, why not gaze up and ponder the golden edifice of their pre-eminence. Enjoy it. Because it won't be there forever.

Sunday 31st August

A particularly tempting Sabbath card at the Curragh. Top of the bill are the Moyglare Stud Stakes where a number of top class two year old fillies will display their Guineas or Oaks credentials and the Flying Five Stakes, which does exactly what it says on the tin and in which British raiders tend to do rather well. The support action includes the Round Tower Stakes, a fairly informative two-year-old race; the nine furlongs of the Listed Dance Design Stakes for fillies and the Irish Cambridgeshire, a cracking Premier Handicap run over a mile.

Tuesday 2nd September

An ordinary Goodwood card is enlivened by the Supreme Stakes, a seven furlong Group Three race that is invariably competitive and one of the better races for its class you'll see this summer.

Thursday 4th September

EBF Fillies Day is Salisbury's most valuable card of the season. Race of the day is the Dick Poole Fillies Stakes for two year olds and there is also a decent conditions race for stayers, named after the great Persian Punch.

Saturday 6th September

A fantastic day's racing in England and Ireland. Starting at Leopardstown with one of the highlights of the flat season, the Irish Champion Stakes. One of the best Group One races you'll find anywhere, this has been the scene of some searing contests up the long straight and according to the market, this year's renewal is all about the tussle between Duke of Marmalade and New Approach.

And as you would expect, there is plenty of betting interest outside the feature. The Matron Stakes is another Group One of the highest pedigree, run over a mile and confined to fillies and mares, with plenty of top class form to peruse. For those horses not quite up to the Champion Stakes, there is the Group Three Kilternan Stakes over the same ten furlongs and handicap specialists can get stuck into the September Handicap or the Autumn Fillies Handicap, both insanely competitive Premier events.

On the other side of the Irish Sea there is a fine meeting at Haydock, built around the Sprint Cup. One of the best sprints you'll find anywhere, there will be a classy field going for this big prize. Expect an even larger field for the Old Borough Cup, a Heritage Handicap over a mile and six furlongs for stayers, a great betting race. There is also the Listed Superior Mile; a solid looking Class Two Nursery and an intriguing conditions race for two year olds.

Finally, Kempton hold a quality day of racing on the Polytrack. The September Stakes is a mile and a half contest that has attracted some good stayers in the past and there is also the Sirenia Stakes over six furlongs for two year olds and the fiercely contested final of the London Mile Handicap.