Sportingbet.com Great Voltigeur Stakes Betting Preview - tough-as-teak Namibian can thwart Seville
While the Juddmonte International Stakes is the main event on the first day of York’s Ebor meeting, the Sportingbet.com Great Voltigeur Stakes, a key trial for the St Leger, is an equally intriguing spectacle, with the proven class ofSeville pitched against the tough-as-teak NAMIBIAN and the highly promising Sea Moon.
Seville has atoned for his inauspicious effort in Epsom Derby by finishing runner-up to stable companion Treasure Beach in the Irish equivalent at The Curragh next time and found only Meandre too strong in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp on his latest start. Undoubtedly, he deserves to be a short-priced favourite for this Group Two contest.
Sea Moon, who will be partnered by Richard Hughes in place of the injured Ryan Moore, was workmanlike when landing the odds in a 1¼m handicap on his reappearance at this track in June, but he is held in high regard by trainer Sir Michael Stoute, and there’s no question that this beautifully-bred colt is capable of better, particularly now stepped up in trip.
However, I’m siding with Namibian, who can be backed at 4-1 at the time of writing. He is a typically game and ultra-tough member of the Mark Johnston stable, and proved that he’s still very much on an upward curve when thwarting Fiorente in the Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood last month.
That battling victory was all the more meritorious considering that he was conceding 3lb to a rival rated 3lb higher, as he was penalised for his victory in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot. His victory in the latter race, which is run over 2m, underlined the colt’s stamina, and while Seville is expected to stay further than the 1½m Voltigeur trip given that his target is the St Leger, for which he is the ante-post favourite, he has looked vulnerable at the business end of his races.
I’m not suggesting that Seville lacks the first for a fight, as his conquerors at The Curragh and Longchamp are both top-class three-year-olds, but Namibian is so game, and if Silvestre de Sousa makes plenty of use of his mount round here he will take some passing. Furthermore, the son of Cape Cross appeals as the type to carry on progressing.
The remaining five runners need to improve, though Al Kazeem is unexposed, and his form is working out well. Representing the bang in-form Roger Charlton yard, he readily saw off Labarinto and Fulgur, both of whom have won valuable handicaps subsequently, at Newbury in May. Al Kazeem was conceding weight to that duo, too, so he is entitled to respect, despite stepping up in class.