Kieren Fallon can swoop on Hawkeyethenoo in valuable Ascot handicap on Saturday
HAWKEYETHENOO can resume winning ways in the valuable totesccop6 Challenge Cup at Ascot (3.50) on Saturday, and the 10-1 currently on offer about Jim Goldie’s charge should be snapped up.
I was really impressed with the five-year-old when he landed the Victoria Cup over this C&D in May, beating the re-opposing duo Manassas and Nasri – and 25 others – with plenty left up his sleeve. The handicapper banged him up 8lb for that, but I don’t believe that his two subsequent defeats can be attributed to his revised mark.
Indeed, while the gelding has scored on good to soft ground in the past, I don’t think there’s much doubt that he’s a better horse on quicker going, and conditions back at this venue and Ayr the last twice respectively were far from ideal. The sunny spell has ensured that conditions will be far more suitable this weekend, and connections clearly mean business by booking Kieren Fallon, who won aboard Hawkeyethenoo on the sole previous occasion he has ridden him.
As you would expect for a handicap with a first prize of almost £95,000 there are dangers aplenty. Heading that list is Smarty Socks, who also has a big C&D handicap victory on his CV, having landed the Fly London Southend Airport Handicap here on his latest start, a race in which he had Pastoral Player (fourth) and Atlantic Sport (fifth) behind. I felt he won a shade cosily, so a 6lb rise is hardly prohibitive.
Eton Forever hasn’t done anything wrong in three starts since bagging the Spring Mile at Doncaster in April, and has to be feared, while the penalised pair Decent Fella and Golden Desert also enter calculations. The latter is particularly interesting following his authoritative success at Newmarket last weekend, and he’s still feasibly treated despite having 6lb extra on his back here.