US Weekend Preview: Solid makes plenty of Appeal

Both Belmont and Woodbine play host to quality racing.

Timeform's Graeme North assesses the action at both Belmont and Woodbine over the weekend...

Maybe the most intriguing runner in the States this weekend from a European perspective is 2012 French 2000 Guineas winner Lucayan who makes his debut at Betfair Hollywood Park in the G3 American Handicap, but there is good graded action at both Belmont and Woodbine on Saturday albeit nothing quite of the calibre that went at Pimlico last weekend.

The feature at Belmont is the G2 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (16:45 local time, 21:45 BST) for fillies and mares over eleven furlongs on the turf with former European interests also well represented. Morning Line favourite at 3.55/2 and justifiably so on form is one of the two horses in the eight-runner field not to have raced in Europe, Hessonite, who has won on both surfaces here but is particularly effective on the Belmont turf as her record of five wins from nine attempts suggests.

It's not solely her course record that has ensured she has been put in as favourite but her reappearance here in the G3 Beaugay Stakes when she carried on where she had left off the previous autumn with another career best, finding herself in all sorts of trouble early in the straight but effortlessly quickening past her rivals once pulled wide to win with any amount in hand.

Those rivals weren't second raters either - two of her five opponents had Timeform ratings in excess of 113 whereas only one of her opponents here can boast that rating - and the reason she is a standout price is almost certainly because she has to prove her stamina having been raced exclusively around a mile (the one time she did try a mile and a quarter last year, she was out of her depth in the G1 Flower Bowl). Long distance races in the States are rarely truly run, however, and with the track riding firm it looks well worth taking a chance on her stamina at the price.

Third favourite on the Morning Line is the former John Gosden-trained Strathnaver who has improved since joining Graham Motion and has won both races in the States, but she looks to have a bit to find on form even though she won a G3 at Keeneland last time. Her stable-companion Julies Love looks to have an even stiffer task on form, so with Tannery and Mystical Star both arriving here with plenty to prove, it may be that Morning Line second choice Starformer and the former Goldolphin inmate Anjaz will give Hessonite most to do.

Starformer was a little below form at Gulfstream last time when one place behind Anjaz but that's not typical of her form as she has won four of her six turf races in the States at eleven furlongs or longer including three G3 events. Anjaz finished well to pip Starformer on the post that day for fourth and should again be in the mix with this slightly shorter trip promising to suit in view of her race record in Britain.

The feature at Woodbine, the Nassau Stakes (16:25, 21:25 BST), is also a fillies and mares but over a mile this time and also has features a horse worth a bet at the forecast prices. Morning Line favourite is Irish Mission who did this column a favour last year when improving as anticipated stepped up to a mile and a half in the Breeders' Stakes. Her latest effort at Gulfstream again suggested that she really needs much further than this now and as a consequence she looks vulnerable.

So too does second favourite Dancing To Town whose reappearance win at Keeneland last month has admittedly worked out very well and whose third last summer in the De La Rose at Saratoga was a useful effort, but though she represents the still bang-in-form Mike Matz her form overall is all or nothing.

Aptly named third favourite Solid Appeal makes just that. She ended last season on a career high at Churchill Downs running a close fourth to crack mare Centre Court in a well-contested G2 and won readily at Keeneland on her reappearance without needing to run up to that form. She should go very close. 

Recommended bets:
1pt win Hessonite in the Sheepshead (Belmont, 21:45 BST)
1pt win Solid Appeal in the Nassau (Woodbine, 21:25 BST)      

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