Ryan Moore at the Breeders' Cup: The views on my four rides on Saturday night

22:22 Santa Anita - Telescope

"And he showed what he is capable of over this trip on fast ground when beating Hillstar by seven lengths at Royal Ascot. He comes here in really good nick, and is poised to run a big race."

Ryan Moore has four rides on the second night of the Breeders' Cup including two for his boss Sir Michael Stoute, and here you can read the Betfair Ambassador's exclusive thoughts on his own chances plus those of his main rivals...

To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I've had a good look at the races that I am not riding in. I concentrate on my job, not those of others. Toronado is the form horse in the Mile but it is a very competitive race and he will need luck in running with 14 in the field.

And while Shared Belief is the most likely winner of the Classic, the vibes that I have been hearing have not been overly-positive and he did have a hard race last time.

Here are my views on my mounts and the races I ride in:

19:43 Santa Anita - Dank

This looks a pretty competitive Filly & Mare Turf, with a fair bit of depth to it, so I am pretty surprised to see that Dank is only about a 2-1 chance to win this. Don't get me wrong, I think she is the one to beat on form but the fact is that she came back wrong after finishing well beaten in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Ascot, and she has needed time to get her back on song.

But this is where the boss comes into his own. And when he readies a horse for an international prize from a long way out, then it takes a brave man to bet against him, as we saw again with Hillstar in Canada recently. And he would have had this race in mind for this filly ever since he started nursing her back to health and form, and she certainly appears in real good order at the moment.

She obviously won this race last season but to a large extent I think that we got away with it there, as it was coming to the end of a long campaign, and she had been on the go since May. But we can at least be sure that she comes here a fresh horse, and she felt a very good filly indeed when winning the Beverly D last year. She has a nice stall and has a class edge on these.

But there are no end of serious rivals as Flower Bowl winner Stephanie's Kitten and the progressive Dayatthespa look to pose a decent home challenge, and Just The Judge, Secret Gesture and Fiesolana have chances, too. Just The Judge needs to step up again on her EP Taylor win but clearly has to be respected, while Fiesolona could be troublesome if returning to the form of her Matron Stakes win and lasting home over this longer trip. But I am pretty happy with my filly, and she'd be my best chance of a winner.

21:05 Santa Anita - Dimension

I don't know too much about him to be honest, as he has clearly come a very long way since I rode him to win a Kempton maiden three years ago. But he has obviously developed into a pretty classy sprinter in the States, running well from a wide draw when fifth in this race last year and tuning up for this with a win in Kentucky last time. It looks as if he can be slowly away, which won't be ideal round here, but he appears to have an outside place chance, though he does have a lot to find on form I must admit.

Others look to have more obvious chances, including last year's Morny winner No Nay Never, Reneesgotzip and Undrafted, who ran a great race when fourth in the July Cup. But, in truth, you can give most of these a chance - as is the case in most sprints, I find - and Caspar Netscher looked pretty decent when winning the Nearctic last time and this 6 1/2f could be his trip. But no firm opinions here.

21:43 Santa Anita - The Great War

Given this is on dirt, the Europeans don't have that bad a record in this race, with three winners in the last 12 years or so, but it is obviously a guessing game as to how horses will act on the surface.

I think it is probably fair to say that The Great War hasn't fulfilled early expectations just yet, but he looked good when winning over 6f at the Curragh last time and being a War Front gives you hope that he will handle the surface. But as well as the dirt he has to prove that he stays this trip, as he certainly has a lot of pace. But his pedigree does give you some hope on that score. It's clearly a big ask though, and that is why he is the only European horse in here.

And the home team do look exceptionally strong this year. American Pharoah may be out of the race but the likes of Daredevil and Carpe Diem look above-average juveniles coming into this, as does Upstart, so I'd probably be delighted with a place. Of the two favourites, I would favour Carpe Diem, and he could well be favourite for the Kentucky Derby after this.

22:22 Santa Anita - Telescope

This is one race that the Europeans have tended to dominate, but I'll be honest and say that I think Flintshire is the one to beat. I think 1m4f on fast ground is what he needs, he probably ran a career best in the Arc last time, and he is trained by a genius in Andre Fabre.

Luckily, so is Telescope, and the boss produced Conduit for back-to-back wins in this race, and he resisted the temptation to take this horse to the Arc, so he has been tuning him up for this ever since.

To be straight up, I was a little disappointed by his third in the Juddmonte at the time, but on reflection it probably was a pretty decent run against faster horses over a trip short of his best at York. And he showed what he is capable of over this trip on fast ground when beating Hillstar by seven lengths at Royal Ascot. He comes here in really good nick, and is poised to run a big race.

Aidan has suffered a blow with last year's winner Magician ruled out of this race but the rest of the field should be relieved; he possessed brilliance on his day, and I'd go as far to say that if he had run up to his best in this race, he would have won.

I travelled over to the Woodbine International with Michael Owen, and I felt for him when Brown Panther had to be withdrawn there. That experience wasn't great and, more importantly, these conditions won't ideally play to the horse's strengths and bigger dangers could be Main Sequence, Hardest Core and maybe even Chicquita if they can harness her undoubted, if wayward, talent.

But for me I think Flintshire is the one to beat - he does have the best recent form, for all that he seemingly finds it hard to win - and Fabre successfully trod the same path with Arc fourth and Turf winner Shirocco at Belmont in 2005. I hope that I am wrong though. But whatever way you look at it, it is a pretty competitive race even without Magician, and one likely to be truly-run, too.

Amazon Watches Center

Ryan Moore: Five rides at Doncaster today

Ryan Moore on Duke Of Firenze

"I think you will see him to much better advantage today and he has been going well at home in preparation for this."

Betfair Ambassador Ryan Moore has five booked rides at Doncaster today and here he talks exclusively about the chances of each...

14:20 Doncaster - Chandlery

This looks a pretty hot race for a listed race - even the lowest-rated horse, Stand My Ground, is very interesting in a first time hood on his first start for David O'Meara - so Chandlery will need to be pretty straight to even be competitive here and probably post a career-best to win. He has been off the track since July 2011 with a broken pelvis but I hear that he has recovered well and has been going well enough at home. And you always like to have these comeback horses pretty straight but the odds are that he will need the run. But don't forget what a promising and classy juvenile he was, winning the Group 2 Vintage Stakes on his last start. But, like I said, this is very competitive - Gabrial has form in better company, while Sovereign Debt deserves respect - and I have seen weaker Group 3s than this, so I am probably bang up against it.

14:55 Doncaster - Man Of Plenty

Won first time up last season in a Windsor maiden and went on to put up a couple of decent placed efforts in handicap company, back at Windsor (where I beat him a head on Rye House) and then at Goodwood. He is not obviously well handicapped on those runs but 1m4f on good ground, though he has form in the soft, could just be a combination that suits this horse. But, whatever the ground come race-time, he is still lightly-raced, and has a fair chance on his first start for Ed, whose horses seem pretty forward.

15:30 Doncaster - Duke Of Firenze

I thought that he could go on and win good races after impressing me when I partnered him to victory at Windsor in June, but he was beaten in his three next starts. And that was a little disappointing. But looking back at it, there were excuses for those defeats. He was only beaten off a 9lb higher mark by Fulbright next time up at Newmarket, and the winner advertised that form when going on to win in Group 2 company; he probably didn't fully see out the 7f at Doncaster; and on his last start at Ascot he again probably wasn't ideally suited by the soft ground. So, back over 6f on good ground, I think you will see him to much better advantage today and he has been going well at home in preparation for this. But you don't need me to tell you what a competitive race this looks - Musselburgh winner Move In Time is interesting and Jack Dexter is an obvious threat - and any significant rain would be a worry.

16:05 Doncaster - Duke Of Clarence

I haven't sat on him so I can't tell you a great deal about him that the form book doesn't. He proved himself progressive towards the end of last season, winning on good and soft ground, but he would need to step up on his fourth at Warwick this month were you to seriously fancy his chances here. But I hope that he will be sharper here and he obviously can't be written off. There are plenty of potential improvers in here though, probably none more so than Lingfield winner Carazam off 8st 7lb and recent Newcastle scorer Beaumont's Party at the other end of the weights.

17:15 Doncaster - School Fees

Another horse that I don't know too much about. I see that she only beat one home at Kempton last month but some of her form last season is obviously a lot more encouraging, and she is only 1lb higher than when winning at Bath last July, and she looks versatile as regards ground. But she has to put three modest runs behind her here, and she doesn't look an obvious winner to me. Let's hope I am wrong, and I see the stable are in good form.

There are no comments on this article.

Product reviews and advice for best reference

Ryan Moore: How Champions Day can move forward in the future

A Champion Stakes featuring Frankel and taking on Cirrus Des Aigles and Nathaniel is clearly out of the top drawer but at the end of the day the race has attracted just six runners for a massive pot...
If the ground is deemed suitable by Sir Henry, then Frankel will win by seven lengths.

Nobody wants to get behind a top class meeting more than Ryan Moore and he is a big supporter of the Champions Day concept. Here he suggests some improvements for the organisers to consider.

It will obviously be a crushing blow to all concerned if heavy ground sees the withdrawal of Frankel at Ascot tomorrow.

But I fear for the future of Champions Day, full stop.

I appreciate that it is almost sacrilege to question the wisdom of the day, but I think we have to be honest with ourselves and everyone should stop pussy-footing around the subject.

I know plenty of people who share the same concerns that I am going to express now - and Julian Muscat touched upon them in the Racing Post this week - but they almost feel intimidated into silence and acceptance. Intimidated may be a touch strong, but you know what I mean.

Everyone applauds the concept of us having our own Champions Day and Ascot and all concerned have done a great job to get it up and running. It clearly involved overcoming a hell of a lot of self-interest to get it staged.

And you have to give Qipco the utmost respect for supporting the meeting to such a stunning degree, especially in terms of the prize money on offer.

Their involvement is a massive plus for the sport.

So nothing but praise on that level. And no-one wants to get behind a top class meeting in this country more than I; as I have said before, above all else, and that includes jockey titles, I work to be involved in top class racing.

But at the moment I think Champions Day ranks some way behind the Arc and Breeders' Cup meetings, and is clearly a work in progress.

There are obvious issues to address, not least the quality of the cards, on which races "clash" with themselves, the timing of the meeting, and the lack of variety on the card. And I am not even going to mention the apprentice race on the card. Well, I might a bit later.

Take out Frankel last year and this, and what are we left with? Pretty much two cards - although I fully accept the Champion Stakes was a top class race last year, with Frankel sparkling in the QEII - that wouldn't particularly stand out during a Royal Ascot meeting.

And when I look at Champions Day, I see a dilution of the domestic end-of-season racing, not a strengthening.

Let me explain.

Let's go through tomorrow's Ascot card. And one thing that immediately strikes me is that it is just a six-race card - and one of those races is a 0-100 apprentices handicap worth 30k, for god's sake - and that is surely unacceptable for such a showcase meeting. Compare that with an Arc or Breeders Cup card, which give racegoers a breadth and depth of racing that Ascot tomorrow cannot currently compete with.

We have a stayers race that features three previous Gold Cup winners but who come here in variable form, a Champion Sprint Stakes that wouldn't get many pulses racing (though, to be fair, not many sprints have these past few years), an up-to-standard Fillies and Mares Group 2 (though one lacking top class fillies and mares such as Danedream, Shareta and The Fugue, not to mention the Arc winner), and a QEII that lacks real strength in depth for a Group 1 mile race (you may think that is harsh but compare this field to the one that Excelebration beat in the Marois).

A Champion Stakes featuring Frankel and taking on Cirrus Des Aigles and Nathaniel is clearly out of the top drawer but at the end of the day the race has attracted just six runners for a massive pot.

So I think the quality issue needs addressing, and that must surely be linked to its proximity to the Arc and Breeders Cup cards.

I know you have more chance of turning on the TV these days, and not seeing Clare Balding, than getting new meetings staged - hence my applauding the fact that I even have a Champions Day meeting to comment on - but surely the more natural home for this meeting is King George Day in July.

I appreciate that Goodwood would probably have something to say about that but if Champions Day is going to be the sport's flagship event, then it has to take priority. Ascot in October is probably not going to attract the best, going forward.

And there is probably too much of a crossover between the 1m and 1m2f races, and probably the 1m2f and 1m4f, on the card, in the likely event of testing ground at this time of year.

But arguably a more pressing concern of mine is the lack of variety on the card, and by that I mean the absence of two-year-old races. Surely, they have to be an integral part of such a day.

I don't think Future Champions Day at Newmarket is anywhere near the finished article yet, and when I looked at the 2yo races last week, I saw too many options and clashes.

To me having the 6f Middle Park, 7f Dewhurst and 1m Autumn Stakes on the same card prevented some high-class and more informative clashes. I would have loved to have seen some of the horses from the Autumn Stakes take on Dawn Approach and beefing up the Dewhurst.

We can have a "future stars" apprentice race, but no "future stars" 2yo races?

So what we currently have is Champions Day meeting that has the foundations in place, but needs a lot of the rough edges knocked into shape and built upon.

Having said all that, I'm fully behind the concept and doubt that I have said anything that the organisers aren't fully aware of and a lot of people in racing aren't already thinking. And I won't be getting involved in any future debate on this; I have just given my honest opinion and will leave it there.

Oh, and by the way, if the ground is deemed suitable by Sir Henry, then Frankel will win by seven lengths.

And no-one will remember any of the other five races, anyway.

There are no comments on this article.

Amazon Watches Center

Luke Moore: The Olympics were lovely but let's hear it for football

Norwich and QPR play each other on Saturday, and 1.684/6 for Both Teams to Score looks like a decent bet.

The Football Ramble's Luke Moore returns to Betting.Betfair with the first of his season-long series of columns. Every week Luke will discuss topical issues and breaking news as well as recommending a bet for the following weekend's action...

We've not been able to move over the last couple of weeks for reading how Premier League footballers need to take a leaf out of Olympic athletes' book, bemoaning how the Olympians seem so polite, genial and generally cheerful when compared to their pigskin-kicking counterparts. Apparently, the athletes that descended on London this summer have been a refreshing breath of fresh air in interviews, their Wildian witticisms and self-deprecating manner really offering food for the soul as those evil, Lucifer-made-flesh money-grabbing, over-pampered footballers wait in their opulent gold-plated caves for the season to begin.

Well, guess what? Footballers are really hard working athletes as well, and I'd argue that their less-than-interested schtick with the media is probably to do with them being so nervous about what the press are going to print about them that they'd rather keep their cards close to their chest. The voracious appetite for a story, largely fuelled by 24 hour news networks and newspaper websites means that just about anything they say is spun into a story, no matter how spurious, with a view to attracting listeners, viewers and readers at the behest of a working trust with the footballers in question. Olympic athletes also don't have the rather unsavoury experience of tens of thousands of fans screaming aggressive insults at them every time they make a mistake or have the temerity to encroach on a part of the pitch near a group of braying, drunken wannabe alpha males looking to prove their manhood, either. I imagine a few months of that sort of treatment would make even the most patient soul more than a little misanthropic.

What's more, Olympic athletes only have the magnifying glass of public scrutiny thrust upon them every four years. If it was to happen to them every single week, two things would happen: 1. They'd get annoyed with it and eventually start giving monosyllabic answers on their way through the mixed zone at great speed, and 2. A lot more facts about the athletes themselves would slowly rise to the surface, enabling us to form a more rounded opinion of them instead of seeing them as knights in shining armour that appear over the hill, banners flapping, once every four years and disappear like ships in the night before we even have a chance to fully remember their surnames.

So, in short, we should be happy that the Premier League and club football in general is back, and not try to compare apples with oranges. The Olympic Games were a lovely departure and made us all proud, but that doesn't make the entertainment, skill and drama of football any less worthy.

And on that note, and after a superb opening weekend both here and in Spain (as well as some PSG-related, lights-out drama at Ajaccio in France) let's take a look at a bet for this weekend. Two teams that were at the wrong end of horrendous scorelines in the Premier League last weekend were Norwich and QPR, and despite the eye-catching nature of the results, conceding goals for these two teams is pretty much business as usual. They both conceded an eye-watering 66 goals last season, the worst of all the non-relegated clubs. They play each other on Saturday, and 1.684/6 for Both Teams to Score looks like a decent bet. Norwich didn't really struggle for goals last season, and QPR have strengthened in that department and should be able to score against a hapless Norwich backline.

There are no comments on this article.

Amazon Watches Center

Ryan Moore: Good to be on board with Team Betfair!

Industry View / Ryan Moore / 29 March 2012 / Leave a Comment

Ryan guarantees honest opinion throughout his first season blogging for Betfair

"My column will be starting proper at the start of the Craven meeting but on Saturday morning I will run you through all my rides at the Dubai World Cup meeting and my idea of the likely winners in each race."

Star jockey Ryan Moore is Betfair's latest big name signing. One of Flat racing's finest jockeys, Ryan promises honest verdicts on all his rides and forthright opinions on the main issues in the sport throughout the coming season. Welcome to Betfair, Ryan!

Welcome to my first Betfair column.

Most of you will be aware that I don't have the reputation of being the most talkative and vociferous member of the weighing room but I think I may just surprise a few people in this space this season.

Firstly though, I would like to thank the BHA for relaxing the rules to allow myself, and other jockeys, to write these columns that will hopefully better inform punters.

However, I would like to set expectations here.

If you want to read a jockey criticise all and sundry, then I am not your man. I am not a person to upset anyone for no good reason, or say things for effect.

And I don't think I will shock many people by stating that sometimes a jockey simply cannot say too much, for obvious and various reasons.

I know my fellow Betfair colleague Paul Nicholls is famed for his open approach - and he is a very hard act for me to follow - but trainers often have just themselves to answer to and there are added sensibilities with jockeys in that we deal with agents, owners, racing managers and trainers, as well as other sections of the industry.

The fact is that jockeys juggle more balls than most in this game. And we have to be very careful not to stick one in our own net, as trust can quickly be lost. Everyone riding today will tell you that.

But what you will get from me is my honest analysis of all the horses I ride, and the races they run in.

This will probably get me some stick in the weighing room but I would like to think that I have as good a grasp on the form book as anyone riding today and I take a keen interest in international and US racing, too.

To be successful and make informed choices when riding at big meetings at home and abroad, you have to constantly do your homework and have a world outlook.

And if something needs to be said on industry issues or topics of the day, and I can add to the debate and have something worthwhile to say, then I will not fight shy.

For example, I have my own, strong thoughts on the whip, and doubtless that is a subject I will be focusing on from time to time this season. I still think the rules are a work in progress, but more of that at a later date.

My column will be starting proper at the start of the Craven meeting but on Saturday morning I will run you through all my rides at the Dubai World Cup meeting and my idea of the likely winners in each race.

I have had my injury problems in the past two campaigns, but I start the season very fit and I am raring to go. Let's hope Dubai can set me up nicely for the season ahead.

But more of that next month, starting at the big Newmarket meeting in mid-April.

Come the Craven meeting, I'll be letting you know which horses I'm most looking forward to riding in 2012, my thoughts on the jockeys championship and how I split my time between the big trainers I'm fortunate to ride for.

It's good to be on board, if you pardon the pun.

Amazon Watches Center