Who To Follow On Saturday At Newbury - 18/09/21

Al Aasy is another confident vote ahead of race 4, the Legacy Cup StakesSent into the Group Three Al Rayyan Stakes over 1m4f here at Newbury, he could not have been an easier winner of the race, cruising to the front and demolishing a field on the bridle that included St Leger winner Logician and Dante Stakes winner Thunderous.

That run was arguably one of the performances of the season and he tried to reproduce that last time out in the Group One Coronation Cup but was unfortunately chinned on the line by the gritty Pyledriver.

Looking to get back to winning ways he was last seen at Newmarket in the Princess Of Wales Stakes and again he finished narrow second to the determined Sir Ron Priestley.

He has been given a break now and dropping back into a Group Three makes him appear extremely difficult to beat.

William Haggas has been operating at a highly touted 20% strike rate at Newbury across the last 5 seasons and heads to the venue on Saturday boasting an impressive 23% strike rate across the last 14 days.

He will be hoping to carry over that run of form through a strong string of rides which include the likes of Tom Collins, Hurricane Ivor, Al Aasy, Ilaraab, Aramaic and Maglev (in race order).

All of the aforementioned runners hold strong claims to victory with Al Aasy, Hurricane Ivor and Aramaic all current favourites for their events.

Tom Collins has also been tipped by us for the 13:40!

There has been much discussion of late surrounding the ever catching William Buick in the flat jockey championships this season however there has been little coverage of Oisin Murphy’s ability to extend his lead.

An opportunity to do just that may have just arisen on Saturday at Newbury as Murphy holds a fine set of rides at a track he has been operating at a highly touted 18% strike rate this season.

Jabbar, Paxos, Kings Lynn, Foxes Tales and Koy Koy (in race order) all hold very decent claims in each of their contests and Murphy can very much assert himself at the top with strong performances when saddling each.

It is an important stage of the jockey championships where each booking counts... the Murphy representatives may of just got this one spot on for their man.