With his favourite good-to-firm ground, THE GREY GATSBY looks a straightforward value bet for this mile-and-a-half Newmarket Group Two.
He’s up against Royal Ascot flop Exosphere, the mount of Ryan Moore, and claims by far the best form in the race.
A French Derby and Irish Champion Stakes winner as a three-year-old – claiming the huge scalp of Epsom Derby winner Australia in the latter – he can also claim seconds to the best miler in the world, Solow in Dubai, the best horse in Europe last year, Golden Horn in the Coral Eclipse, and Free Eagle in last season’s Price of Wales’ Stakes at Royal Ascot.
All of those races are top-class Group Ones and set the bar mighty high for any in opposition here.
A winless 2015 means he escapes a penalty for this race, while the favourite has the challenge of conceding 3lbs for his impressive win at Newmarket in April.
As such – and even if he bolts up – Exosphere looks really up against it and absolutely no value at 11/4.
The threat might be the three-year-old Muntazah (8/1) for Owen Burrows, who was last seen on his reappearance finishing fourth, four lengths back, in the Dante at York.
You’d expect some improvement for the run and he didn’t have the clearest passage, so his best form is yet to reveal itself.
We’re still at the stage of the season where we don’t know quite how good the three-year-olds are, but I’m not too keen on the Dante form as it’s fallen short several times since, so this time I’ll pass and stick with a known quantity in The Grey Gatsby.
1pt win The Grey Gatsby @7/2 or best morning price, 15:15 Newmarket, Thursday
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