'We've been waiting for this race all winter' - analysis and quotes for £100,000 sprint handicap

Charlie Hills at home in Lambourn this week

Charlie Hills: runs the lightly raced RabaahCredit: Edward Whitaker

Looking at the stall number of recent winners may suggest this is a race where draw plays an important part. The past five winners broke from 22, four, three, five and 12. Watching those races back would not support this angle.

The Rowley Mile is much wider for this meeting than it was for the Craven fixture a couple of weeks ago. This makes dashing towards a rail a bit less attractive in a big field. Generally, the field has come down the middle of the track in one group.

Depending on how much rain falls on Newmarket, fresh ground could be the order of the day. But this is guessing. What is known is that there is to be a fresh breeze, coming mainly from the runners' right. That would nudge towards prominent racers from high stalls. But this could easily be overridden by jockeys making snap assessments of where the best ground is.

While there are countless unknowns, the field is made up mostly of old friends. Only four-year-olds Rabaah and Wallop could be called truly unexposed. Both would have to prove themselves on testing ground, without a run in almost 11 months in Rabaah's case.

The key form could be last year's Stewards' Cup. It was borderline unraceable and three of the first five are in this field. Conditions at Goodwood were important to Aberama Gold and Aleezdancer. Unless things get unexpectedly testing, they may not have that advantage again.

Apollo One was second in the Stewards' Cup. He is no mudlark, he was third in this race on his reappearance last year and then second in the Wokingham. Without knowing the vagaries of ground and track bias, he looks as solid an option as exists in this major betting puzzle.

Race analysis by Keith Melrose

What they say

David Evans, trainer of Rohaan
There aren’t many races for him. He loves Ascot and his main target is the Wokingham. Newmarket isn’t his ideal track, but he should still run a good race.

George Scott, trainer of Rocket Rodney
He’s back from a lucrative campaign in Bahrain where he won plenty of prize-money. He’s a burly horse and might just need the run. His main target is the Wokingham.

Richard Hannon, trainer of Mums Tipple and Wallop
On his day, Mums Tipple is a very talented horse. It's whether things go his way in the race but often the more trouble he gets in, the better he runs. Wallop will have improved for his first run last time. I didn't think he ran a bad race there and, if he improves on that, he'll run very well.

Mums Tipple: one of two runners for Richard HannonCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Charlie Hills, trainer of Rabaah
He’s pretty useful. We’ve been waiting for this race all winter, really. He was slow to come in his coat, but it’s come now. He’s working well and I think he goes there with a good chance.

Adam Ryan, assistant to Kevin Ryan, trainer of Aleezdancer
He ran a cracking race at Doncaster on his return. He will appreciate any ease in the ground, so I hope it doesn’t dry out. He’s in great order. He ran to a good level of form at Donny and, if he reproduces it, should go close.

Steve Brown, assistant to Julie Camacho, trainer of Tactical
He's an interesting horse. He had some very good form for Andrew Balding, but hasn't found it yet so far for us. We still have faith in him though and he's well handicapped. He ran in some terrible ground last year but we believe there's a good horse in there still.

Jack Channon, trainer of Chairmanoftheboard
He’s in great form. He was only touched off at Newbury last time and is definitely competitive off this sort of mark. A bit of rain would be in his favour as good ground is perfect for him.

Adrian Nicholls, trainer of Abate
He has snuck in again at the bottom of the weights. He ran a solid race at Newmarket last time and it’s a similar sort of field. Mia [Nicholls] gets a good tune out of him. It’s a very competitive race but he’ll be cherry ripe now and, if he runs his usual race, he’ll be in the shake-up.
Reporting by Richard Birch

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