Trainer Richard Guest is hoping lightning strikes twice when Barnet Fair lines up for the William Hill Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon.
Barnet Fair tipped for another prominent display
Trainer Richard Guest is hoping lightning strikes twice when Barnet Fair lines up for the William Hill Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon on Saturday.
The four-year-old scraped into the maximum 20-strong field for the valuable sprint handicap, much to the relief of connections after a nerve-wracking few minutes up to final declaration time.
He had also just made the cut in his previous race at Ascot and that worked out well as he took a competitive 18-runner affair at the Berkshire track last month.
Guest believes that coincidence bodes well for another prominent display, though he is praying Ripon continues to avoid heavy showers that would dampen Barnet Fair's prospects.
Deadline time
"He's in good form and ready to go, but we don't want too much rain," said the Doncaster trainer.
"As long as it's good ground we'll be all right, but anything worse than that will be against him.
"We've always thought six furlongs would be his trip, but we got away with it over the stiff five at Ascot where he was doing his best work in the last half furlong.
"The extra furlong should be in his favour.
"We were the last horse to get in at Ascot and we were watching the declarations tracker in the last few minutes before deadline time and it was the same on Thursday.
"Let's hope it's a good omen."
Outpaced
By contrast, Robin Bastiman would like to see a drop of rain to boost Singeur's chances after his five-furlong success at the North Yorkshire venue earlier this month.
"If it's good to firm he won't run. I think there is rain about so he'll probably be all right," he said.
"I don't know about the draw (16). I guess we will have to go where the pace is.
"He needs soft ground over five furlongs and when he won the other day he was outpaced early on and stayed on at the finish.
"I think he's as good over six. He's been second over that trip and last year he had trouble with his joints.
"He's a lot happier with himself this year and moving well. He seems a different horse this year.
"He was a classy two-year-old and if he can get back to that form he'll do better things."
