French Racing Tips

WIN: RAWIYA 2pt Win if £3.50 or bigger

RAWIYA was a winning selection earlier this month when breaking her maiden at the second time of asking at Toulouse over the mile. She steps up in class today in a C2 Conditions heat again over a mile at Angers, and is well placed to gain a second successive victory in October. Devin is having an excellent season, and books Maryline Eon for the ride again on Rawiya, and the pair have teamed up for four winners from five runners in recent weeks. The biggest threat to preventing them from adding another winner to that statistic will be from Henri-Alex Pantall’s Merano. He finished 2nd to a solid Jean-Claude Rouget yardstick on his last start in this company at Bordeaux, and previously was a 7-length maiden winner at Vichy. He will head the opposition alongside Gone Away (who looks as though she needs further already), Out Of Africa (who may struggle to give away a penalty), and recent maiden winner Beau Gars. Any further rain should benefit RAWIYA’s chances and I expect her to go very close. She would rate a solid bet if she looked like going off £3.50 or bigger in the pool.

WIN: SEVENNA’S KNIGHT 1pt Win if £3.50 or bigger

The presence of Trueshan, Grosvenor Square, and last year’s dominant winner Double Major should hopefully allow for SEVENNA’S KNIGHT to go off £3.50 or bigger in the pool and he would rate a fair bet if so. He has already had the beating of Double Major twice this season, and ran a tremendous race in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on his last start, staying on into 5th place and collecting 143,000 euros for his troubles. This trip is much more his bag and it is undoubtedly a drop in class if not a drop in grade. He thrives on softer ground, and should appreciate this stiff test in what is guaranteed to be a strongly run race. I am most wary of Grosvenor Square, who will most likely attempt to make all and could be hard to peg back if putting a disappointing run in the St Leger behind him.

The supplemented Ballet Slippers was withdrawn yesterday leaving just three runners set to go to post. TENNESSEE STUD will go off a very warm favourite and on the balance of all known form should take all the beating; his price is going to be too prohibitive to bet, particularly given this will be run slowly which can often throw up funny results. Green Storm doesn’t look the most straightforward, and Harvey has plenty to find on what he has done so far.

MARANOA CHARLIE will start the odds-on favourite in the pool here, with Christopher Head stating he is the best horse he has trained. That is quite a powerful statement given he trained two Classic winners last year, who won a host of Group 1’s between them. Ralph Beckett’s MATAURI BAY may pose the biggest threat - he was unlucky not to win the Solario last time and I feel he will improve for this step up in trip on slower ground. The Beckett team couldn’t be in better form and yesterday’s Prix Isonomy winner SQUARE D’ALBONI might even have been good enough to win this, or most definitely the mile race prior. TWAIN was supplemented after careerring away to win on debut at 28/1 in impressive fashion, and he will most likely be second favourite behind Maranoa Charlie in the pool.