Wednesday Horse Racing Tips: Efficient ride should see improver strike again

George Boughey didn’t just train his first Classic winner this year, he also celebrated six Group victories and is on pace to challenge Mick Appleby for the leading-most all-weather trainer.

Cachet’s 1,000 Guineas success back in May will undoubtedly go down as Boughey’s career highlight to date, but his impressive rise to the top in the trainer rankings shouldn’t be overlooked. If he can close out the year with the most all-weather winners, it would be yet another accolade to look back on from a glittering 2022.

Boughey currently sits on 66 all-weather winners and is just seven victories behind Mick Appleby, who has sent out 180 more runners than Boughey on synthetic surfaces this term, in the race for top spot. With just two weeks left of the season, he is left with a pretty tough task to erode that deficit. 

However, I strongly fancy Boughey to reduce that number by one when Hadley Park lines up for the mile nursery (5.00) at Kempton on Wednesday. 

This son of Havana Gold was too green to do himself justice when he was sent off 13-8 favourite for a novice event here back in June, and he was subsequently given two runs over inadequate sprint trips to learn the game and mature both mentally and physically.

Hadley Park was then stepped up to a mile and fitted with a tongue-tie for his handicap debut at Chelmsford last month, and he duly romped home by three-and-a-half lengths off a mark of 66. Winning margins can flatter horses for a whole number of reasons (pace, track biases, lack of depth etc), but, although he was always in the best possible position, he certainly wasn’t made to look better than his performance warranted.

George Boughey: Had a phenomenal season on turf and all-weather surfaces

Boughey turned him out just two days later as he looked to take advantage of a mandatory penalty, but Hadley Park only finished second at a short price. Perhaps the quick turnaround proved unsuitable given his rawness and inexperience, but I believe the main reason that he suffered a surprising defeat was due to a rare inefficient ride from Kevin Stott.

Stott and Hadley Park had to endure a wide trip through the early stages of the race after breaking from stall ten, but they then found their rhythm on the front end after being able to cross to the rail. Everything looked to be going well for favourite backers until Stott kicked for home with three-and-a-half furlongs to run. 

Hadley Park showcase his admirable turn of foot and scooted three lengths clear, only to be worn down in the dying strides by a Mark and Charlie Johnston-trained rival who initially looked beaten. Had Stott held onto Hadley Park for a few more strides, he would have recorded back-to-back successes.

He has subsequently had 37 days off the track and drops back half-a-furlong around a track that should suit. The booking of James Doyle, who is 3/8 for Boughey on the all-weather this year, is a positive, while stall two will allow Hadley Park to save energy throughout the early portion of this event. Although he’s a relatively short price and competes off 4lb higher, Hadley Park is strongly fancied to come home in front.

The only other race of interest on Wednesday is the 7f handicap (6.00 Kempton), where the James Fanshawe-trained Hickory will open up as favourite. 

This four-year-old is unbeaten in two starts and could be chucked in off a mark of 80, but he beat up a group of significantly inferior rivals on his comeback from a long layoff last time and I don’t really know how good he is. Given he will be short in the market, I have to oppose him from a value perspective. 

I backed Ring Of Gold last time when he came from last-to-first to win over this course and distance and he could go in again, but he’s not guaranteed to get the strong early pace he needs and has a wide draw to overcome.

Preference is for Granary Queen, who has finished in the frame on six of her eight all-weather runs and has looked desperately unlucky not to win on her last two starts. The handicapper has hit her with a 2lb rise for her recent Lingfield second, where she was just given too much to do, but the switch to Kempton should bring about enough improvement to offset that.

Granary Queen’s main assets are a high cruising speed and push-button acceleration, so the long straight at the Sunbury venue should allow her to weave the field before switching outside late on to pick up the leaders.

She finished a really good second on her only start here in September, where she was too keen and was switched to the unfavoured inside rail, and a better result awaits.  

Wednesday All-Weather Tips

Hadley Park (5.00 Kempton) @ 2.32
Granary Queen (6.00 Kempton) @ 8.4