Solario Stakes Tips: Gosden Can Make History
The Solario Stakes has over the years given us some fantastic two year old colt winners, notably the mighty Kingman. On Saturday one of his progeny will attempt to scoop the same pot his father did all those years ago for the same training operation, and despite the race looking as deep as ever Billy Grimshaw cannot oppose the favourite...
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Despite there often being more than one classy juvenile in this race, the Solario Stakes of late has been a happy hunting ground for favourite backers. Indeed, seven of the last ten have gone the way of the market leader and it is an even bigger surprise than normal to see an outsider scoop this pot. One trainer in modern times has made this race his own and that is John Gosden. He is now training in partnership with son Thady but regardless of the inner workings of their operation, it is a race they are renowned for sending a good'un to.
John Gosden is at present tied with six wins with the late, great Sir Henry Cecil and he has an excellent chance of becoming the outright leader on Saturday with market leader FIELD OF GOLD, who I am very sweet on indeed. I've not been one for jockey bashing on these pages since taking on this role, and I am loathe to do so to a man who is already having a tough time, but Kieran Shoemark's ride on Emily Upjohn when carrying my cash did exhort from me a few sighs and groans, so it is with trepidation I row in again behind a horse he is sat upon. The Gosdens seem to be keeping the faith and that's good enough for me though, and Shoemark has shown in the past he is a talent in the saddle.
A horse with the potential of Field Of Gold could be just what Shoemark needs in his new high pressure role and after rewatching this son of Kingman's Newmarket maiden success over seven furlongs I could not be with anything else. He was so reminiscent of his father in eating up the ground and I do think this is a horse bred to be top class who will eventually go on and fulfil that potential, barring injury or mishap.
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This is no penalty kick and while I have already outlined the strong record of favourites, the second favourite this year looks destined for the top himself in Andrew Balding's Royal Playwright. He is also bred to be brilliant, out of Arabian Queen and by Lope De Vega no less, and on visuals he looked every inch as good as the favourite in his maiden win. The reason I am siding with the market leader is firstly, the Gosden factor, and secondly I just thought there was a more extravagant finishing kick from the Kingman colt, as one would expect. If both these horses bring their A Game I think we are in for a treat and while I'm high on Field Of Gold, I am a big fan of Royal Playwright too and would not be surprised to see him push our lad all the way.
Despite my obvious admiration for the top two in here, this is by no means a two horse race and of those at bigger prices I was most tempted by another Lope De Vega colt in Matauri Bay for Ralph Beckett. He has done nothing wrong in winning with minimal fuss on debut and his price tag of 500,000 guineas is certainly eye-catching. I'd expect to see him progressing rapidly as his career unfolds, and wouldn't be surprised if he's in the shake up here.
Tiger Mask is the experienced colt in here and while he has progressed with each run, it'd be a tad disappointing were he to be able to beat all these jazzy newcomers as he is more exposed and has been found out a few times.