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Shadwell looks likely to send King George winner Hakum to the Arc de Triomphe as they don’t want to run him between now and then for the sake of it.

The Racing League got off to a dramatic start last night as the fire brigade had to be called to Chepstow due to an electrical fault causing a fire in the kitchen. That resulted in water coming through the ceiling of the weighing room.

The Shergar Cup takes place at Ascot tomorrow. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but Joao Moreira is captaining the Rest of the World team and Frankie Dettori is leading Europe for the final time.

The confirmed runners and riders are out for tomorrow’s Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, and the market is looking juicy with very little between Bucanero Fuerte, Unquestionable and Porta Fortuna.

Bucanero Fuerte Kevin Stott
Givemethebeatboys Shane Foley 
His Majesty Seamie Heffernan
Gaenari Gavin Ryan
Launch Gary Halpin
Porta Fortuna Oisin Murphy
Unquestionable Ryan Moore

William Buick has received the call from Kevin Ryan to ride Hi Royal in Sunday’s Jacques le Marois. Neil Callan has kept the ride Triple Time and as stated the other Frankie will ride Inspiral.

One to watch

2YO races are taking over today. There are 13 across the cards and I currently have so many tabs open that my laptop is currently roaring at me…

First up is the 15:00 at Brighton. Market leader Kandoo (15/8) is making her second start for Archie Watson and she was unlikely not to win first time out for her new trainer as she went down by a neck. First-time cheekpieces could make all the difference as she looks to lose her maiden tag on the sixth attempt.

Next up is Andromeda in the 18:25 at Tipperary for Aidan O’Brien. The daughter of Galileo was an eyecatcher when she chased home Opera Singer at Leopardstown last month and that experience should set her up for some good improvement over this slightly shorter trip today.

She’s 7/5 and should get off the mark second time out. Former winning NAP Brilliant also runs in the 19:00, but I won’t be touching her today as even-money Deepone is going to take all the beating.

X NAP

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I’m putting a lot of faith in James Doyle as Haydock tonight, as I’m backing the rider of the NAP to also win on Couplet (11/8) in the 18:50. Won convincingly on debut here from 12/1 last September and returned with a second under a penalty at Doncaster last month. This is handicap debut, but she looks like she’s going to keep improving and can win today.

William Buick loves it at Newmarket, he has an 18.2% win rate there in the last month and a 29.2% strike rate at HQ in the last five years — better than any other jockey. He has a good book of rides tonight and the one I’m siding with is Finest Leader at 15/8 in the 19:10.

He’s won his last outings, beating nonother than BLUE YONDER by a neck two races ago, and a 5lb rise shouldn’t be enough to stop him from making a hat-trick here under Buick.