We can all look forward to some excellent racing at Doncaster this week. On Thursday September 9, it’s the Cazoo May Hill Stakes with Inspiral the hot favourite to win this Group 2 race. It’s a race for two-year-olds, run over a straight mile and the forecast going is Good to Firm as the UK finally enjoys some good weather.
According to DailyMail, the winner of this race will receive £63,799 in prize money. Last year, the May Hill Stakes was won by Indigo Girl, trained by John Gosden. Who will be the winner in 2021 and will we see a future Classic winner?
It is possible that may well be the case. Inspiral is the current 12/1 favourite to win the 1000 Guineas next year and 16/1 to win the Oaks. A win in this race will see those odds shorten, so it might be worth taking them now.
Inspiral is trained by John and Thany Gosden and has won both of her races this year. June saw a first win for Inspiral in a Class 4 race run on Good to Firm ground. That was followed by a move up to Listed race company at Sandown. Inspiral ran out a three-and-a-half length win over Wild Beauty (second in a Group 3 race since) over seven furlongs.
The filly went clear in the final 110 yards, so getting an extra furlong isn’t looking like it will cause Inspiral any problems at all. You can get odds of 4/6 at present on Inspiral winning this Group 2 contest reports horse.bet.
The main opposition to the favourite is the Joseph Patrick O’Brien trained Albula. It was only last month when this runner made its racecourse debut at Naas That was on good ground and over a mile with no problem getting the distance. Such a good debut wasn’t expected by racing experts as Albula went off at 12/1 that day.
Albula then raced in the Group 3 Manguard Plus Irish EBF Flame Of Tara Stakes at The Curragh on August 21 on good ground. The odds-on favourite was two lengths clear going into the final furlong but couldn’t stay ahead of Magical Lagoon and finished second. At 11/2 for this May Hill Stakes, Albula may well finish second behind Inspiral as long as the ground isn’t too fast for this runner.
Andrew Balding runs the third favourite, Speak. This runner has only had one race to date, and it was a Class 4 event on the all-weather at Kempton last month. Speak finished a length-and-a-half clear of Natasha and proved that staying a mile is not a problem. nagshead.co.uk
This is a big step up in class for Speak. We also have to take into account that debut race was on Standard to Slow ground on the all-weather. How will Speak cope now racing on Good to Firm ground on turf in a Group 2 race? With horse racing betting apps you can get 8/1 on this runner and that can be a good bet both ways.
Others to consider include Wild Beauty at 12/1 but has a lot to find on the favourite having been beaten at Sandown. The extra furlong may bring some further improvement. Another contender is Seisai who was fourth in a recent Group 2 race. That was on soft ground, how will the filly (available at 8/1) fare on Good to Firm?