Vanessa Ryle: Spencer hoping to be a winner away from the Newmarket July Festival

Vanessa Ryle
06 July 2022
3:00 min read

Vanessa Ryle earmarks three Jamie Spencer rides away from the July Festival

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In this week's column Vanessa Ryle earmarks a trio of horses who all won on the same day, and are now set to be ridden by Jamie Spencer who is hoping to bag some winners away from the July Festival...

"Spencer’s now back on board and she heads to Ascot where she will be stepped up to 12f for the first time off an unchanged mark since that disappointment last time out."

The July Meeting at Newmarket is one of the more intense weeks of the year for those working in flat racing.

A top-class three-day meeting on the racecourse, combined with a high-volume Horses In Training sale up at the Tattersalls complex, means that owners, trainers, stable staff and bloodstock agents are all spinning many plates as the week unfolds.

Spencer going elsewhere rather than July Festival

The jockeys don't have it any easier, either, with a busy fixture list up and down the country, but if you're a multi-Group 1 and classic-winning jockey based in Newmarket then you would probably be hopeful of picking up a few rides just down the road on the July Course throughout the week.

However, that isn't the case for Jamie Spencer who has an interesting book of rides on Thursday and Friday, everywhere but Newmarket.

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There are some meetings that are continuously referred back to because the form of the contests stack up as the season progresses and Spencer will be focusing his attentions on the form-lines from Doncaster's relatively low-key meeting on 14 May where not only did he ride a treble but also, over the coming days, he's set to ride three horses who all won on that same day.

Hope at Donny but trainer form a concern

Fresh Hope (15:45, Thursday) is the first of those and she is set to drop down in trip to the 7f for the first time this season, having won at Doncaster over the mile two starts back.

Trained by Charlie Fellowes, she was given a typical 'Spencer' ride that day having been slowly away and got there in the nick of time while still looking green.

Since then, we have seen her in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot where she looked threatening before fading in the closing stages, seemingly still not quite the finished article.

Spencer now gets back on the three-year-old and heads up to Doncaster for just this one ride on the filly who has been left on the same mark by the handicapper and travels strongly enough that suggests she won't have an issue dropping back down in trip.

However, the Fellowes yard has been quiet in the last couple of weeks with very limited runners and what has been running have failed to fire, so perhaps it's best to take a watching brief until the yard is back firing on all cylinders.

Parr could Fire in Ascot nursery

Spencer will then head back down to Ascot on Friday where the first ride of the day will be in a hot nursery over 6f aboard Nigel Tinkler's Parr Fire (14:15, Friday) who won the novice at Doncaster back in May.

The daughter of James Garfield caused an upset on the day when ridden by Rowan Scott and has had one start since when disappointing at Beverley, albeit in deeper waters.

Now in one of the first nurseries of the year, off a mark of 80, and stepping up in trip to the 6f, she may be worth keeping an eye on for the Tinkler yard who have hit a bit of form of late with six winners in the last two weeks, and it's certainly an interesting jockey booking given that Tinkler has used Spencer on only five previous occasions, and they are yet to break their duck together.

High expectations of Spencer excelling on Aiming

The third and final horse Spencer will ride from that Doncaster fixture is David Simcock's Aiming High (16:00, Friday) who won in very eye-catching fashion over 10f.

Although trained by Spencer's long-time supporter Simcock, the three-year-old was ridden by Joey Haynes on this occasion, due to the filly carrying a feather weight. Haynes kept the ride when we last saw Aiming High at Salisbury, but she didn't show up at all that day when the 2/1 favourite.

Spencer's now back on board and she heads to Ascot where she will be stepped up to 12f for the first time off an unchanged mark since that disappointment last time out.

By Lope De Vega, she doesn't appear to be the most straightforward of fillies in the preliminaries or in the race itself, but she could well be just the sort of tricky customer on whom Spencer excels, and it's notable he is getting down to a light riding weight for him of 8-09 to take the ride.

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Finally, Spencer rode a three-timer on that noteworthy day at Doncaster in May and one of those was aboard the prohibitively-priced Deodar, trained by Ralph Beckett, who won despite some wayward tendencies in the finish.

Since then, the Juddmonte owned threeyear-old failed to fire on handicap debut at Newmarket over 7f but now he now returns to 6f and has blinkers applied for the first time as well as being reunited with Ryan Moore: all three components make him an eye-catching runner in the Heritage Handicap at Newmarket at 15:00 on Thursday.