Three Horses To Watch At The Weekend

Palace Pier for John Gosden is the current favourite for the Group One Prix Jacques le Marois and he is looking to extend his unbeaten record to five wins.

The son of Kingman has been faultless to date, winning both his starts as a juvenile, starting at Sandown back in August winning a nice maiden and then going on to back that up over the same course and distance.

He made his seasonal debut at Newcastle on the all weather seeing off a stern effort from the Richard Fahey trained Acquitted but off the back of that he improved a massive amount to hunt down Pinatubo late in the day at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Back in England the feature race of the weekend is the Group Two Hungerford Stakes over seven furlongs and the legendary One Master bids to take the race for the first time.

The six year old mare has been a shining light for the yard over the last few years and although not being at her best in both at the start of the season, she got back to winning ways last time out in the Group Three Oak Tree Stakes.

Having shown in the past her clear ability and pace, winning back to back renewals of the Prix de la Foret and also placing in events like the Champions Sprint Stakes and Falmouth Stakes, she has to be taken seriously once more.

She got her campaign up and running last time out in conditions she hated but her class shone through and with rain set to fall this weekend she could get her soft ground which would sent her shorter in the betting.

The final runner we think is worth watching this weekend is Morando in the Group Three at Newbury over the marathon trip of 1 mile 5 furlongs that will suit the Andrew Balding trained gelding.

The seven year old has only had one start this season in the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot and with the trip being to short and high class field, he ran no race.

Soft ground is what he revels in and with the rain forecasted to come at the back end of the week, it should play to his strengths and now race fit he has to be feared.

Morando has previous at winning in Group Two and Three races at similar trips and the extra distance should be what he needs.