Temple Stakes Tips: Diamond Can Shine At Haydock

The Temple Stakes is the feature race at Haydock on Saturday and there looks to be a fascinatingly deep field set to line up for this Group 2 sprint. A case can be made for plenty and on the normal soft ground at Haydock, Billy Grimshaw has one he believes will come on leaps and bounds for her last run...

There really is only one place to start when assessing the 2024 Temple Stakes, with last year's fairy tale sprinter story Live In The Dream setting the standard on ratings for trainer Adam West. He was a Grade 1 Nunthorpe winner last season and while he did improve as the season went on from his third placed finish in this race, there are a few reasons I'm happy enough to take him on.

Firstly, the soft ground for one so speedy and who loves to front run is not an obvious positive. In last season's race - admittedly, I'll repeat he has improved since then - he set off like a bat out of hell from the gates and got over to the favoured near side rail and began to blaze a trail. With the ground more suited however, his petrol tank seemed to empty a small bit and in the end he looked to be tired crossing the line in third after being swallowed up by stronger stayers. Perhaps his rapid early pace has improved so much that he will get out to an unassailable lead, but at the prices and with his record in the race I'm happy to swerve the likeable Epsom trainer's stable star.

Australian sprinters have in recent times had the measure of their Northern Hemisphere counterparts and as such it would be folly to underestimate Asfoora, who has won on soft and is making her first European start in what could be a fruitful summer campaign over here. Nevertheless, one suspects she has bigger targets in mind later on in the season - namely Royal Ascot - and on the back of the longest journey in racing I would want a bit of a bigger price about her before ploughing in.

Rogue Lightning was an unlucky Abbaye loser to wrap up last season, somehow still finishing within two lengths despite meeting as much trouble as a horse can on a rapid five furlongs like the one at Longchamp. Tom Clover's charge looks just the type of horse who will kick on at four and as we know, sprinters often get faster as they age. It'd be a surprise were he not to be in the mix and he was one that came close to making the staking plan.

A race I'm desperate to focus on for this as a form line is the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago. Seven Questions came out on top in a shock result, beating Vadream into second in what was a tasty forecast for anyone who managed to find it. Both horses ran career bests arguably there and with Vadream known to prefer it soft - the ground was officially good at HQ that day - it was a commendable run from the second.

Starting 5/2 favourite that day was BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND and I'm surprised to see she is as big as 8/1 with our friends at Midnite for this contest considering she finished a very close third and had a shaky start to the race before looking predictably keen for a three year old filly on her first start of the season. Off the back of a 225 day break it was likely she was going to need the run so to be in with a shout until the final strides was in my opinion a more than satisfactory performance and I struggle to see her out of the first three again here. Soft ground should be no problem and looking at a few weather forecast sites Haydock looks set to be spared any more heavy rain, so she will do for me in this Group 2 receiving weight all round.