British Champions Day at Ascot, 2 Group 3s at Leopardstown and a jumps card at Newton Abbot that is worth more than a glance. We have gone through the races we actually want to talk about, which is not all of them, and where we think the bet is.
Where we have nothing to say about a race, we say that too.
12:55 Ascot, British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes, Class 2
11 runners over 6f on good ground for £128,850, which is a remarkable amount of money for a conditions race and tells you exactly why the field looks like it does.
Night In Vegas is here because of it. Look at what he has been doing: he won the £200,000 Somerville Auction Stakes at Newmarket in August from 18 runners, the £300,000 Weatherbys 2-Y-O Stakes at Doncaster in September from 17, and then the £200,000 October Auction Stakes back at Newmarket a fortnight ago from 15. Three of the richest sales races in the calendar, all won. That is not luck, that is placement, and connections deserve enormous credit for it. We have been firmly on his side through the lot of it.
But this is Champions Day, and this is where the better 2-year-olds start turning up. Satellite Of Love is the other one who has been doing the same thing: he won the Two Year Old Trophy, a Listed race at Redcar, a fortnight ago, and he was second to Night In Vegas at Doncaster. We were on him at Redcar.
We want to take both of them on, with the horse we think is simply the better 2-year-old. Arapaho Gold is the one who should be running in Group races rather than in lucrative auction and conditions races, and he is rated 110 here, the highest in the field.
He won the Gimcrack Stakes, a Group 2 at York, in August. Before that he won the Rose Bowl Stakes, a Listed race at Newbury, beating Nabati. He was then only 3rd of 8 in the Mill Reef Stakes, another Group 2, at Newbury last month, which was disappointing, and Nabati turned the Newbury form around on him that day.
Here is the line that makes the race for us. Revels was 4th in that Mill Reef, behind Arapaho Gold, at 22/1. Three weeks later Revels went to Redcar and was second to Satellite Of Love at 3/1. So Satellite Of Love's big Listed win reads no better than Arapaho Gold's Group 2 third, and Satellite Of Love has already been beaten by Night In Vegas.
Night In Vegas and Satellite Of Love have been running in the right races to win prize money. Arapaho Gold has been running in Group races. If he bounces back to his Gimcrack form, he is the one to beat.
The other 10 races, from the Long Distance Cup at 13:30 to the Catterick Dash, are below for Premium and Pro members. That is both Group 1s we are taking a view on, the Fillies & Mares, the QEII, the Balmoral and the 2 jumps races, with the result grids behind every call.