Denton Hall News

Dods hoping for rain as Dakota Gold heads to Ascot

TRAINER Michael Dods says it's a case of the more rain the better as Dakota Gold heads to Ascot for the listed Rous Stakes tomorrow.

The five furlong sprint was one of the five races won by Dakota Gold during his prolific season in 2019 and the conditions look like they should suit the six-year-old gelding as he bids for a repeat.

It was soft when Dakota Gold won the Beverley Bullet in August (see main picture) and he's been placed twice since then on going that was faster than ideal. Connor Beasley takes the ride as usual.

Michael discusses Dakota Gold's prospects, along with the stable's other Saturday runners, in his regular Weekend Preview below...

"We’re heading towards the end of the season now, with the weather definitely starting to turn, but we’ve still got a fairly busy weekend ahead of us with seven runners at Ascot and Redcar on Saturday.

We start at Redcar, where we’ve got three runners – BRYANWOOD, LOUIS THE WARRIOR and SANDERLIN – all going in the EBF Stallions Novice Stakes (1.10). They’re all nice horses, but they’re all more three-year-old types than two.

Bryanwood has had two runs, but he’s a big horse that really still needs some education. It’ll be good to get another run into him, then he’ll be put away for the winter after the run. Louis The Warrior ran well at Ayr on his debut, finishing in mid-division on his first run. Hopefully, he’ll learn a fair bit more from this run because he still needs to learn what racing is about.

Sanderlin is a nice horse, but this is his first run and he’s one we’ve always seen as more of a three-year-old. It’s his first day at school, and it’s a bit of a shame he’s been drawn in one, so he’ll be on the outside. Like I say, with all of three of them, it’s a case of them hopefully enjoying themselves and having something to build on at three.

DAKOTA GOLD is heading to Ascot to run in the tote.co.uk Rous Stakes (1.55). They’re forecast a fair bit of rain down there, and it’s really a case of the more, the better for him. It looks a very competitive race, but hopefully the ground will be in his favour and he’ll put in a big run.

We also had Que Amoro entered for the race at one stage, but it was fairly obvious from an early stage that the ground was going to be no good at all for her, so we took her out. That will be it for the season now for her. She’s had a really good year and deserves her rest.

Back to Redcar, and we’ve got MYRMIDONS, pictured below, running in the Market Cross Jewellers Handicap (2.15). We had been thinking about stepping him up in trip, but there weren’t really any suitable races, so we’ve decided to keep him at this trip but put a pair of blinkers on him. We’re hoping that will sharpen him up a bit because the talent is there. We just need to get it out of him.

BRUNCH, pictured below winning at York, runs in the Racing TV EBF Stallions Guisborough Stakes (2.50) at Redcar. It’s a Listed race, so it would be lovely to get some black type. Brunch has done nothing wrong all season, winning three races and finishing second last time out at Ayr. To be honest, I thought he was very unlucky in that Ayr run. He just got himself a bit too far behind, then flew home but got beat a short head. I thought he was an unlucky loser. We know seven furlongs is probably just on the short side for him, but it’s going to be soft ground, so that should help.

Last but certainly not least, ROYAL CONTEXT, pictured below, goes in the John Guest Racing Handicap (4.15) down at Ascot. He needs soft ground, so hopefully it’ll keep on raining through the night. The ground was a bit too quick for him at Musselburgh last time out. Unfortunately, he’s been drawn in one when you’d much prefer him to be in the middle somewhere. We’ll have to see where the pace of the race is, but you’d imagine they’ll come down the middle of the track so he’s going to have to tack across and try to get involved."