RACING'S an industry as well as a sport and as such, is subject to the same economic ups-and-downs as the rest of the financial world but even so, it's still a bit weird to see the race title of tonight's main event at Newcastle.
For as long as most of us can remember, the much coveted Gosforth Park Cup has been backed by Northern Rock, but given their recent travails, it should come as no great surprise the valuable sprint now has a new backer in the ESH Group.
Will that
make the 17-strong dash any easier to crack? Well, no, but not to worry, because the winner has already been sorted.
How's She Cuttin' has established herself as a Musselburgh specialist with four victories at the East Lothian venue but David Barron's mare boasts enough decent form elsewhere to confirm she's no one-track wonder.
The selection hasn't won for almost a year but she hinted at a return to form when third, beaten a mere half-length, behind Look Busy at Ayr on Saturday.
She gets weight from all of her rivals, has Darryll Holland in the saddle, and won't turn a hair if the going in Geordieland gets pretty testing, as it could easily do, so she has plenty in her favour.
It says much for the level of prize money in Britain at the moment that the £10,000 on offer for Doncaster's 2008 Stakes is the biggest purse up for grabs on the Flat this afternoon. All six of the field scored last time out, so it's a matter of deciding which of them achieved the most.
Paul Cole's youngster Wildcat Wizard created a favourable impression when scoring on his York debut and looked like a juvenile who could go on to better things so we'll back him to confirm that impression.
At Chester, Fiefdom has the worst of the draw in the opener but might still have enough class to claw his way through and score, while as long as Red Romeo hasn't been too traumatised by his experience at Ayr last time out, when he unseated his rider, Paul Mulrennan's mount can gain compensation for that nasty experience.
Free Offer has had a couple of outings to get her eye in this term and judging by her performance in the latest of them, when she was beaten less than a couple of lengths in a decent event at York, John Dunlop's filly looks set to land another success.
Assuming the nap doesn't scupper her chances.
Meanwhile, conditions at the Curragh have eased to good after 13 millimetres of rain fell ahead of the three-day Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby meeting which starts today.
Casual Conquest, third in the Vodafone Derby, was the best backed horse ahead of Sunday's Classic yesterday, with Dermot Weld's colt cut to 6-1 from 7-1 with Ladbrokes and 5-1 from 13-2 with VC Bet. Ladbrokes' David Williams said: "Casual Conquest is the only attractive alternative to New Approach at this stage of the betting."
Neal Wilkins, from VC Bet, added: "Dermot Weld's colt proved extremely popular on Thursday and we eventually had to cut the Derby third from 13-2 to 5-1 for Sunday's Classic. Clearly a big run is expected and he could be better suited by the Curragh than he was by Epsom's gradients."
The full article contains 572 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
