Ante-post Tip – Temple Stakes Haydock 21-05-16
The big race this side of the Irish Sea on Saturday is Haydock’s Group 2 Temple Stakes for which 18 horses stood their ground at Monday’s declaration stage headed by Mecca’s Angel, possibly the best five-furlong sprinter in training when conditions are right.
Should good ground or softer prevail at the Lancashire venue this weekend, the Michael Dods-trained five-year-old will prove very difficult to beat given the popular mare’s emphatic victory over US ace Acapulco in York’s Nunthorpe Stakes last August. However, if the current going description of good to firm fails to change by off time it is unlikely the daughter of Dark Angel will be risked at the beginning of what is a long season ahead.
On the other hand fast conditions would prove ideal for the likes of Goldream, Muthmir and Sole Power so with an unsettled forecast for the next few days the early ante-post value may lie with a horse who is less ground-dependant, namely the David Griffiths inmate Take Cover.
The winner of a Haydock handicap on heavy ground in 2012 the Singspiel gelding, now a nine-year-old, has been in tremendous form over the last couple of seasons particularly at Goodwood where the horse had finished first and second in the last two runnings of the Group 2 King George Stakes.
Runner-up at Lingfield on his seasonal reappearance Take Cover ran a huge race, despite coming only fifth, in Newmarket's Palace House Stakes last time only giving best close home, and at 14-1 looks decent each-way value for this weekend's feature contest.