Denton Hall News

Dakota Gold faces tough challenge to hump top weight in the Great St Wilfrid

TRAINER Michael Dods says Dakota Gold is in good form but faces a tough task at the weights as he bids to emulate last year's victory in the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon.

Michael gives his assessment in his latest Weekend Preview below...

"We’ve got six horses out over the weekend – four at Doncaster on Saturday and then two at Ripon on Sunday.

The first of the Saturday runners is ALIENTO, who goes in the attherace.com Handicap (3.25). She likes fast ground, so although the weather’s been a bit changeable in the last couple of days, hopefully conditions will suit. She was very unlucky last time at Ayr because she got boxed in at a crucial time and just couldn’t quite get out. It looks like a pretty competitive race, but hopefully she’ll run well.

TROUBADOR runs in the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap (4.00), and he’s just troubled by what he did last year. We think the seven furlongs will suit him, but the truth is that he’s been crucified by the handicapper because of what he did as a two-year-old and he’s having to try to cope with that. He finds himself running against horses of the same calibre, but having to concede lumps of weight to them and that’s obviously hard to do.

Next up, we’ve got WORDEN PARK in the Follow At The Races On Twitter Novice Stakes (5.05). She’s a nice sort of filly, but this is only her second run and the trouble with these novice races is that horses like her have to run in them without really having a fair chance. Much higher-rated horses farm these kind of contests, but you’ve got to run in them until you’ve got a handicap mark and that’s not really ideal.

The last of the Saturday runners is TOMBOLO in the Sky Sports Racing HD Virgin 535 Handicap (5.40). The one-and-a-quarter mile trip should suit, but I would be a bit worried about the firm ground. We’ll see how things go overnight and in the morning, but he’s one where we’ll be taking a long look at the ground before deciding whether he runs.

The first of the two Sunday runners is TIME FOR A GOOD UN in the Follow @WillHillRacing on Twitter Novice Auction Stakes (12.55) at Ripon. He disappointed last time when he ran at Newcastle, but it was maybe a case of him not really liking the all-weather. Seven furlongs might really be his trip, but we’re a bit short of races so we’ve decided to take a bit of a chance over a mile. Hopefully, he’ll do himself justice.

Last but certainly not least, DAKOTA GOLD runs in the William Hill Great St Wilfrid Handicap (3.15), having won the race last year. He was fantastic for us last season, but like Troubador, he’s really paying the price for that this year with his handicap mark. He’s top weight here, so he’ll be giving a lot of weight away to the rest of the field. Ideally, he wants a bit of cut, so the state of the ground would be a slight concern. He’s in good form though – he just wants a bit of cut and a bit of luck, and then we’ll see what happens.

It’s obviously York’s Ebor meeting next weekend, but with him running this weekend, we won’t be entering Dakota Gold in the Nunthorpe. We discussed it with the owners and were all in agreement that this was the way to go."