Happy Romance looks the ideal match for Hungerford

Published date10 August 2022
Publication titleWeekender
There are only 34 entries for the main event, so the maximum field will be 14, and in reality they will be lucky to get half that

In these days of a dwindling horse population, these consolation races have probably had their time, at least at some tracks.

It looks like we are in for small fields all round on Saturday as none of the other ITV races (there are nine in all) have attracted more than 15 runners at the five-day stage, and the layers were, not surprisingly, initially reluctant to price up the handicaps.

There's some Group action to bet on though, and the most appealing race on that score is the BetVictor Hungerford Stakes at Newbury.

It's easy enough to understand the likes of Pogo and Chindit being among the favourites, while the three-year-old Tiber Flow looks ready for the step back up to 7f, but the overpriced one is surely Happy Romance.

The Richard Hannon-trained filly has some pretty good form at Newbury as she won the Super Sprint as a juvenile and the Hackwood Stakes last year, and she was fifth to Minzaal in a warm running of the latter event last month.

You could not have asked that form to have worked out much better as the winner and fourth were a...

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