Thursday tips: Forget the sweating "Shacks" and back Sam to be Great
By Rachel Candelora
Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023
By Rachel Candelora
I have got three tips in England today, and I can’t help but put one up for Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly.
This daughter of US sire and my personal favourite Shackleford made a pleasing runner-up debut at Kempton last month.
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She shaped very much as a winner waiting to happen.
Trainer Andrew Balding is trying her on the turf for the first time and if she handles the soft underfoot conditions the stiff mile at Pontefract should suit.
Keep in mind that if she appears to be sweating freely at the start do not worry as that is a trait of the “Shacks.”
This maximum field 6f Nursery has “trouble in running” written all over it, so I am going to keep it simple with Joe’s Spirit, a dual course winner.
The son of sprinter Swiss Spirit makes all the running, gets post position one and keeps front-running jockey Silvestre De Sousa on board.
If he gets away clean he will be hard to peg back and he has clocked a faster time over course and distance than the other main speed angle, Amazing Alice, who also has to overcome her wider draw in seven.
This looks a weak older-horse maiden on paper with what appears to be a dodgy favourite in the shape of Ennjaaz, whose attitude has not impressed me in his two starts to date.
I will take him on with Hyperloop, whose trainer William Haggas continues in great form, and who finished just a head behind the useful High End here last time out.
The German raider Dschingis Secret is the each-way play in the Arc.
His win two starts ago in the Group One Grosser Preis Von Berlin when he beat Hawkbill reads well, as does his win in the Prix Foy on Arc Trials day.
While the Prix Foy does not have a good record at producing horses to come back to win the Arc itself, seven horses have won the Foy and have gone on to be placed in the Arc.
Japanese raider Orfevre in 2012/2013 was the last one.
Jockey Adrie de Vries (in my opinion one of the most underrated riders on the international scene) has stated that it can not be soft enough for him so whatever the weather is - and there is forecast rain, he will be fine.
Rachel Candelora's Thursday tips: (Prices correct at 9pm)
5:15 Pontefract: Great Shot Sam at 7-4 with Bet365 and Skybet
6:15 Chelmsford: – Joe’s Spirit at a generally available 5-1
9:15 Chelmsford: Hyperloop at 7-4 with bt365 and Ladbrokes
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