Sun Chariot Stakes Tips: Classic Winner The Pick

A small but select field of fantastic fillies and mares clash at Newmarket on Saturday for the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes. A clash of horses on the downgrade taking on those on the upgrade is mouthwatering and Billy Grimshaw has decided to back an up and comer...

First things first; I can't be having either of the top rated Gosden pair in here. On peak form it'd probably be Inspiral first, beating Nashwa second and the rest nowhere, however I can't see how anyone can support runners from the stable with any confidence at the moment, let alone these tricky types who can't be long off retirement. Inspiral, in fact, is bowing out here while Nashwa is off on her travels following this race, which screams she will be a good deal short of her best.

Inspiral is the defending champion and although she has a wonderful record against her own sex, I think the spark has faded with her and would not be keen at all to back her with the stable hardly having a winner of late and the ground almost certainly soft. It's always tantalising when you think you can take two out of the market in a small field race as that consequently means you must be on value backing anything else lining up to take them on. I do think there's juice in the prices of all the rest, obviously, but the one that jumps out at 9/1 is 1000 Guineas winner ELMALKA.

Roger Varian's Kingman filly is back at the scene of her surprise triumph in the Classic earlier in the season and while her form of fourth and fourth in the Coronation and Nassau may shine an unfavourable light on her as a Classic winner, I'm not convinced she ran poorly in either and just didn't quite have things go right. She will certainly be back over a C&D she loves here which is a plus and although the pace doesn't look especially strong, Karl Burke's Darnation may attempt to steal it by blitzing off in front and that'd be perfect for Elmalka.

In my mind there is no universe where she should be quadruple the price of market leader Tamfana, who was admittedly probably unlucky on Guineas day when finishing third after a luckless Newmarket run. She won in facile nature last time out when dropping in grade but has - unless I've missed something obvious - no better piece of form on her CV than Elmalka and I cannot understand what the odds compilers are thinking with this discrepancy.

See The Fire is the last three year old to mention of the quartet who will be gunning to bring the curtain down on Inspiral and Nashwa in the UK and usher in their new era, and she did finish ahead of Elmalka fair and square in the Nassau when chasing home what we now know to be a very good filly in Opera Singer. She also has a Group 3 win on her record at York as her most recent outing and at the prices I could put no one off backing her as well as my pick.

On pure price grounds though, I cannot ignore Elmalka and I may yet be tempted into just sticking all four of the three year old runners into exotics and hoping for a grand scale blowout from Team Gosden. It should be a fascinating contest and let's hope Elmalka has another memorable day at HQ.