Haydock Preview - 21/05/21

The first race at Haydock sees six fight it out over the 1m3f 175y trip with Charlie Appleby’s Mystical Dawn being our selection.

This 3-y-o colt has a stamina-packed pedigree so he always always going to come into his own over this sort of trip as a 3-y-o and his debut performance outlined he has the ability to handle cut in the ground.

He is fit from his second in a decent looking event at Nottingham on return and Adam Kirby is booked to ride.

With the ground starting to turn horrific at Haydock it won’t be a course for maximum faith but the sensible option is to stick with horses proven on the surface and Molls Memory, who has the acquaintance of Oisin Murphy, fits that profile.

This 6-y-o mare is 2/2 on heavy going with both victories coming off similar marks to this and Ed Walker has his string in fine form.

She ran a cracker in a competitive handicap at York last week so she is evidently in good heart.

David Loughnane’s Ffion represents a similar form line having been beaten by the same rival as Molls Memory last time out so it would be stupid to ignore his chances off bottom-weight.

This unexposed 4-y-o isn’t as battle-hardened as some of these which may not be ideal in a heavy ground finish at Haydock however his unexposed profile means he has the potential to improve past them and he outlined he handles this course/surface when second at the start of the month.

He gets plenty of weight and can not be ruled out.

Venetia Williams’ Green Book landed a gamble at Chester last time out but he has subsequently been rated 10lb by the handicapper which leaves him on worse terms with the second place Postileo, who was also disadvantaged having come from the rear around Chester with the winning stealing a leader under Franny Norton.

With the weight swing and race tactics combined it is feasible to think Postileo will reverse that form and he has had six career starts compared to his rivals 15 so he is also open to the most improvement.

He is unraced on ground this bad but he is by Galileo and has form on a softish surface.

Andrew Balding’s horses are running well at the minute which makes Nebulosa look interesting at a healthy e/w price.

The daughter of Archipenko is likely to appreciate more of a stamina test so it was impressive she won over 7f on good ground at Goodwood at the start of the month.

This increase to 1m on a softer surface looks right up her street and Oisin Murphy has been booked to ride.

The Sandy Lane typically goes to a real speedster but with the ground coming up soft it may pay to follow a horse proven over an extra furlong in testing conditions.

Isabella Giles, Saint Lawrence and Mujbar are three that fit that profile with the latter two being our marginal preference.

Saint Lawrence has an excellent record over 7f with a notable fourth in the Superlative Stakes and he also boasts some useful form on heavy ground having finished third in a Group 3 at Newbury that was won by our other selection.

This is far from a vintage renewal of the Temple Stakes so Liberty Beach’s rock solid profile may just fit the bill. John Quinn’s 4-y-o filly rarely runs a bad race and she rounded off last season with a third in the Group1 Prix de L’Abbaye.

The form book can often be flipped on it’s head in that event but that outlines she handles a testing surface and she also has form over 6f if this was to turn into a battle at the finish.

Two more positives to note are she goes well fresh and she is 1/1 at the course.