[Music] Hello and welcome to the Friday's Tuck. I'm your host Chris Tusa and this is Charlie Grett. [Music] Welcome back. Big, big welcome back to the Midas Tuchers. We're here in the last time we record an episode of Back Before the Ginnies in May. It's like five months ago but we're back and we're super excited for the big winter of racing. It's been a long old summer flat racing. We're coming to the end of a very exciting period. We've had the arc last weekend, this weekend we've got the Phillies Marl and the Duhurst. We've got Champions Day coming up next weekend. It really is the business end of the season but first before we go into that, Charlie, how are you today? Very well today. Very well, we've had a great summer. Yeah, five months has passed. A lot's happened, I feel, in five months. Probably part of the reason we haven't been podcasting actually. I think there's been a lot going on in both our lives over the summer but I'm very, very happy to be back. I'm happy to be podcasting again. We obviously didn't lose interest in the racing over the summer. It was just that we weren't advertising our own views. It's been a great summer for racing. Very interesting. I was at the sales actually on Tuesday as well so still keeping a keen interest in it and this weekend's definitely something to look forward to as we sort of put a close to the flat season. Yeah, it's been a seriously exciting time over the summer. What do you think your highlight is? I guess we've seen the emergence of City of Troy as a huge star of the sport. Yeah, and we're always very excited about America for City of Troy. I have had the pleasure seeing him on a couple of occasions most recently at the Eclipse where he probably actually wasn't quite to form. Well, no, obviously he won but it was probably a bit more cosily than people might have hoped. We were really hoping for a bit of a procession but the buzz for that race was incredible. In the pre-parade ring, not even the pre-parade ring, there was such a crowd there to look at him and just only him. I guess the interest from basically everyone on the race course was really great to see and obviously he delivered and he's been a fantastic horse. I mean, Aidan is often complimentary of his own horses but the way he talks about that one. Yeah, true. The way he talks about that one though is just next level and he's been vindicated. It's quite interesting that actually because a thought has just popped into my head which was you talking about the sales and the sales carries that kind of, it has that excitement around specific horses that you're talking about because of the price tags, because of the potential that they have. But then for some reason, once they're bored when they're going around the parade ring before until they've actually done anything on the track, that excitement sort of disappears. What was it like being there at the sales this week? Because I know there were some huge, huge price tags attached to some of these in the October book one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. And book one yearling sales in Newmarket, it was genuinely incredible time to be there. I was there for day one of the sales and there was a real, real buzz. I think the big talking point was actually this alpenista filly out of alpenista by Frankel and all the talk was really actually surrounding that horse. Though moments earlier, a horse sold for 4.4 million guineas. Another Frankel filly out of aljazzy. I'm erasing Keir Garabchin, the football agent was cleaning up. He was buying, I think he spent 28% of the total on day one. But just being there and being sort of in the ring and part of that, you hear the murmurs when you hit like 4 million and it gets all really exciting. And it was so cool. And also to see all the sort of the big wig, so to speak, of horse racing. You had a Sheikh Mohammed there, obviously Keir Garabchin. He was with the Nottingham Forest owner and a lot of other big names there as well. So it was a great day to be there. Really cool to see a bit of history as well. But you know, that one needs to go now. Well, yeah, do at least something on the track. And then I guess it'll be that residual value from breeding that will really make them the big bucks. It's incredible, isn't it though, like 4 million guineas. 4.4 million guineas, isn't that fairly well thought. And listeners must be wondering how can a horse actually be worth that much? Like you look at the prize money on each race, it's like 50 grand, 100 grand maybe. But it's that stud value, for those of you who don't know, it's the potential gain in the long term. If you have a stallion who then goes and stands at stud for 20,000 for every time it covers a mare. And then for the fillies as well, if you can get black type on that category, black type is getting placed in a listed race or better. Then that value of any horse that comes out of that mare increases as well. So you're playing for the long term. And that may sound incredibly obvious to people who actually do follow this sport. But for those of you who don't, that's kind of where that value comes from. You know, a saw like Galileo. I think the room is where he's covering mares for about 400 or 500,000 pounds by the end of his career. Yeah, yeah. But if you even think so, Franco, I think in 2021, his covering free was only 75 grand, which he was obviously very cheap now with all the success he's had from his progeny. But he covered 188 mares in 2021, which is like 14 million. It's the big bucks. Yeah, yeah. Like he's pretty good in covering fees alone. And obviously he was a fantastic race horse in his own right. And frankly, it's like the top of the top in terms of your sires. But like, yeah, you can make some serious money. Yeah, that's the ambition. Yeah. But let's move on. Yeah, good luck to Amo. Yeah, good luck to Amo. Yeah. Well, it looks like he has got enough money to play with. So it's great to have someone like that within the sport. And he's quite fiery as well. So yeah, it'll be another exciting season for him and Amo racing. But it's a big weekend for a lot of other horses as well that we need to talk about. We're going to first cover the Phillies mile on the Friday, the feature race, and then we'll be going on to the Saturday where we're covering five races. So we've got a lot to get through. We'll start on the Friday though with the Phillies mile. Desert flour at the top of the market here. How do you assess the field? How do you assess the race? I think it's actually quite a difficult field to assess. It wasn't really a big strong betting race for me. I think desert flour definitely deserves to be there at the top of the market. It has obviously been faultless so far as she's been faultless so far and equally impressive as well. My slight concern and it's nothing against Charlie up. He's never really been one to train top notch Phillies. I think we've said this previously on the podcast. He's not known for his very good Phillies. This one obviously does look good. But I'd maybe be slightly concerned about that at quite a short price. You've got some unexposed runners in here as well. I think of those maybe Edna Bryan's dreamy looks the potential for a bigger scope for improvement. The one sort of take I had in this race maybe, though I don't think it's a betting race for me, is that California dream is probably overpriced. A month for ammo. Yeah, exactly. I know. They're spending loads but they've still got some good ones on the track already. I think this one's like, I mean she's obviously a maiden so that probably puts people off. Instantly but she's been second in a group too. Actually in front of January he'll re-oppose here. She was third in the Anglessee as well against the Colts too. That race is thrown up to subsequent group one winners in Babush and Camille Pizarro. Which you could argue is actually the best near the best form in this race. I mean maybe Desert Flowers went on a last run. Would trump that but I don't know, I think that's got to be close to the best. And she should have finished closer last time over seven furlongs. Never closer than at the line. So she's interesting though. It's annoying because there's seven runners in this field. There's not eight so that would be prohibitive from a betting perspective. I'd say just you don't really get that. You only get two places on each way terms. So she's probably left but she's overpriced. Definitely. It's quite an interesting feel. I mean even in the last day Desert Flowers since Dax has moved in from six to four to ten to eleven. And the other seems to have slid a little bit. I think I thought Dreamy was definitely interesting of the Aiden trio. Particularly because of that close form in with Fiery Lucy who seems to be a pretty good yard stick. Finished twice behind Heaven's Gate. He's got good close form ties with Fiery Godmother. And you know when you compare Dreamy and the potential that Dreamy has compared to January who's possibly more like battle hardened as a two-year-old already with five runs under the belt. I thought Dreamy had that potential to improve obviously now that Ryan Moore has jocked up on January or has been for a day or so. That will naturally become the market principle of the Aiden runners. But I think Tom Markons is a great jockey and he'll be looking to impress Aiden. I guess the final thing to say is that Heaven's Gate actually also beat January earlier in the season. It was a while back but on that form Dreamy's definitely up there and 13-2 is a good enough price. I'm worried about it doesn't flower in terms of that. Charlie Appby, he's never won the Phillies' mile. No. And he has had Goza as well. It's not like he's had no runners either. I think his last runner was maybe in 2022 or '21. But that in itself is an indication that he doesn't usually have good Phillies. I just quickly will move on in a second. But could you see January overturning the form with Desert Flower? It looked. So the one thing that I would say is that January was basically a length and a half behind Desert Flower for the whole race. Ryan Moore is a seriously good jockey that doesn't really get things wrong twice. So at a track like Newmarket they'll probably both be ridden prominently. It wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, I think I'd agree. I think Ryan probably looking back at me I thought he was a bit too far back. Desert Flower got first run and just stayed on. But yeah, I agree. I think actually if you look at sectionals, January is even potentially marginally closing. So, yeah. But no, no bet for me. But I have total respect for Dreamy, I agree with you on that. Yeah, I'll have a little outsider win bet on Dreamy there. 13-2. Let's move on now to Saturday and the 115, which is the Space Blues Dolly Stakes. Group 3 lead artist currently heading the market for the Gosden team at 3-1 Liberty Lane 7-2, who won the Cambridgeshire. It was last weekend or two weekends ago. Elmer Beers 13-2, Ancient Rome 7-1, Skelet 7-1, the Foxes 14s. Any fancies in here for you? Yeah, there'd be a couple I like. I think you've obviously got in here firstly three horses that are coming off long layoffs, which for me is a bit of an instant put off. But I thought the one you mentioned Liberty Lane, the Cambridgeshire winner, fully deserves a group race now. He's won now two big new market handicaps this season, most recently being the Cambridgeshire over the course and distance. So I do genuinely think he's well worth a go here. And I think he'd have a really good chance. The other one that I like and I think is potentially overlooked is Skelet. Whoa, whoa, whoa, go on. We might be barking up the same tree here, my friend. I love it. Well, I'm sure many of the same points, but my view is that she's slightly overlooked because she's got a couple of big numbers next to her name. She was eighth in the Irish guineas in the Irish 1000, and then came seventh in another group one, which was it? Behind Port of Fortuna. Yeah, exactly. So she was very highly tried at the start of the season. And I think no disgrace in going down a couple of group ones. She since bounced back nicely, most recently beating in check and challenge, and quite a good time, actually, at Sandown in a listed affair. And she went very close also in a French group three. I just think because of those two big numbers next to her name, she's been slightly overlooked in the market. I sometimes think in these three-year-old plus races that three-year-olds can actually be over bet, but I definitely don't think this is the case of Skellit. And Rafe Beckett's also won this race with a three-year-old Philly back in 2019, Feliciano de Vega. Yeah, you knew this, obviously. So I just wonder whether she could have a good squeak here. Big respect for the other John, one horse lead artist. But no, for me, Skellit just looks exactly her level to go score, I'd say. I think also the interesting thing, usually I would kind of look back at the three-year-old Phillies and say, have they just run against Phillies? Yeah, it's a good point. Horses of their own age. And what's almost most impressive is that Skellit took on that open company race at Sandown last time beating, check and challenge, who we all know is a very well-seasoned performer at that grade. So I think you can mark up that performance a bit. Lead artist, I think the step-up in trip is a good idea. That pillar to post-winner, Goodwood, showed that. And yeah, I don't know. I've never been fully convinced about Kieran Schumacher at this big job, so I'm kind of happy to oppose the favourite here. And I'm with Skellit as well, obviously a shame that the 14 to 1 that was available this morning is now gone because of the declarations and other factors. But yeah, Skellit's 7 to 1 for both of us in the 115. Yeah. Let's move on to the 150, which is the Zettland Steaks. It's one quite difficult to assess when I was looking this morning. There were a lot of eight O'Brien horses here who were still in at that point. And I found it quite difficult to land on one at that stage. Where did you fall? Yeah, well, now that I'm unemployed, I had the luxury of waiting until dates came out. I was looking at the full field that will hopefully go to post on Saturday. The Zettland is a weird one, right? Because it's one mile, two of two-year-olds, which I think is kind of mental to be going that far at that age. But anyway, that's by the by. I thought the favourite here, Shackleton looked like a good enough bet around 9 to 4. He left behind two seconds, and his first two starts when pulling clear at the Cara in a maiden. Interestingly, that maiden has been won by Illinois last year. And Suzoko, two years before that, Suzoko finished second in the verton for two-year team. I think. Nice. Yeah, he did. I don't know. He did, he did. And I think, so I think you'll be sure to be suited by this track and trip. It looks like the main danger on form and the betting probably reflects us as stars in their eyes. But that one's making a big step up in distance from 7 to 10, which would be a slight negative for me. So yeah, I think, sorry. I think, what's the saying? You've got something stuck in your throat. Yeah, I do. Shackleton nap. I think, no, I think that Shackleton is a worthy favourite here. And it is probably decent enough value at 9 to 4 as well. Okay. I think the one interesting thing that I did notice this morning was the Waffnan Racing dune mace. I don't know how you want to pronounce that, but I'm pronouncing it dune mace for now. Or dune mace. Either way, full brother to Age of Kings, who won the Jersey Steaks. Last time at captain on his second run, beat Prince of the Seas, a Wraith Becket one, which went and followed up the next time. Yeah. In a reason to be good race. And a trust for something. So I think against the favourite, that one was definitely of interest. Waffnan have obviously had some great horses this year and really investing in the sport, which is great to see. I'm a big fan of James Doyle, especially at Newmarket. I think he's a top jockey. And yeah, I just have a feeling. I know that Gosden likes to put some of his good horses on the old weather early in their careers to give them a little warm up. And it wouldn't surprise me if dune mace was there or thereabouts compared to Age of Kings, who was clearly a Royal Ascot Greek three winners. So what do you think about that? Yeah, tenuous. Tenuous. I don't know, I think charcutans being over by far the best form from Ireland. Oh, not by far, but the best form from Ireland. I mean, it's not that characteristic of aid. Actually, he has won this race in the party. He's won with Cugh Gardens, I think, didn't he, and he won the year after as well. So he will bring a couple over to this, but no, I'd happily take it. I'd happily have Shackleton to pronounce. OK, OK, I can't swing you. Let's move on then. 225, the Autumn Steaks. Dulacroix is favourite. This is a race that Charlie Appaby has. He's had an incredible amount. This is if he's literally found the answer. I'm good often more broadly, because I've been through one of the four. Charlie Appaby has won five of the last seven runnings. He's won every single time in the last four years, including with Corribus, who won the two thousand guineas at the track. And Ohio, who won the Jumon International, was European Horse of the Year. So Charlie Appaby likes to chuck his big guns here. And Silver Peak, I mean, was miles back with two and a half fellongs to go. But in his last run, absolutely stormed home and won very easily. So it's difficult to make in this horse. It's a fairly good engine, might need a bit of distance to get into full stride. How did you read this one? Four to one. I mean, is that a steal? I don't know if it was quite mental, given Appaby's record in the race in Gudolfin. So Gudolfin have won seven of the last eight runnings of this. Do you know the only one that they didn't, the only horse that wasn't a Gudolfin in horse that won this in the last eight runnings? No. No. Persian King, who Gudolfin have since bought. I love stories like that. Yeah, yeah. He stands at stuff for them. But no, Silver Peak is actually a part relation of Persian King as well, fun enough. Yeah, that Hidoram was really interesting. He did take a while to get going. But once he did, he really, really impressed and ran through to the line. I do think, I completely agree with you. I think Appaby tends to throw a good one here. And yes, he's got two also in the Dewhurst. But I'd say that this Silver Peak is clearly quite talented also. The one maybe for me though, having said all that is Wolf of Badenock. You could argue whereas the others are sort of all improving. It looks, at least on paper, that Wolf of Badenock might be going the wrong way. His form figures read one, two, four. But I think it's probably worth remembering that that second was in the Vintage Stakes, a group two behind, or in front of rather the subsequent Jim Crack winner Cool Hoof Luke. And then that fourth was a weird one because it was in the Champagne Stakes and you might remember Chancellor withdrew after bursting through the stools before they off. So I think this may be ten years, but I think you can probably draw a line through that because they obviously had to wait a while. He was clearly quite unsettled. From the start, he was sort of purling. He was never quite settled. He was never quite right. I'd be willing to draw a line through that fourth. And I think he's still a pretty good prospect. You've got Spencer on board as well, who actually has a really good return on investment riding at Newmarket. So yeah, I'd say Wolf of Badenock would be worth another go. Delacroix looks pretty good, but his running style seems a bit laboured. I remember watching that car race and just think when he finished in front of the Acapulco Bay and just thinking he looked a bit laboured. You did get going, but he just looks a bit of a boat. Okay. To be honest, and... Sorry, I didn't know what do you think. Well, it's difficult, isn't it? Because if Silver Peak was like six to four favourite, it would almost make you think, oh yeah, well that makes loads of sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's clearly just really, really good. But the fact that he's four to one, it almost makes you sort of second-guess yourself. But I think you should go in. Well, I don't know. I think I'm going to get a no bet here. Yeah. And just watch it and just see what happens because I don't need to have a bet on every race. And if Silver Peak wins, great. If Wolf of Badenock wins, that's a great pick from you. But it's fine, six to one at the moment Wolf of Badenock. That's that. The autumn stakes, let's move on to the feature race on the Saturday, if you like the high class racing. The feature race, if you like, the big betting handicaps is the next one. This though is the Duhr stakes, group one, seven furlongs. These guys are probably going to be up there in the market for the two thousand guineas next season. And surprise, surprise. We've got a hot shot. You know, Brian, the lion in winter is the evens favorite at the moment. I mean, I'll go first here because I was a big fan of Shadow of Light coming into that race last time. And I don't know. I just thought the Whistlejacket maybe had had a bit of a long season and Shadow of Light did end up running a stormer. But I don't know. There's something about this lion in winter that gets me pretty excited. The Acomstakes at York is the most valuable two-year-old race the whole season. It's the first time that Aidan had won that race since 1997 with Saratoga Springs. He was one of the two-year-olds of his generation. And there's a chance, let, I mean, the lion in winter was completely in control of that race at York. Throughout, Ryan Moore knew he was going to win and won very impressively. Second that day, Wimbledon Hawkeye won the Royal Lodge last time at your market. The fourth plate, that's a group two, by the way, the Royal Lodge. The fourth place, the Wacko Kid won a group three last time. So the form could hardly be stronger. They're going to be running on different sides of the track. It's a small field, obviously, but Shadow of Light's drawn in one, lion in winter, drawn in five. So they're going to have to kind of manage their own races. I just think that the lion in winter looked super impressive. I like the way he's been campaigned here. And Aidan has had an incredible season. That's an interesting point, though. Do you like the way he's been campaigned? Because I think it's very untraditional. It is untraditional. But the three races, I think, coming in here that are, once to know, are the Akum Stakes. Yeah. The National Stakes. And the Superlative. And the Superlative Stakes. Yeah. All the Champagne Stakes. All right, Donnie. Champagne's also, yeah, a good trial. I guess you've got it too darn haunted and stuff. But, like, yeah, I thought it was just a weird bit of campaigning for me. And I, who am I to question his wisdom? Because he is unbelievable what he does. But, like, the thing I'm thinking about more is, why is ancient truth not being ridden by will be? Like, I don't know. I just, I felt like the Superlative winner unbeaten still. Yeah. You've got horses in there, like Wimbledon Hawkeye as well. But, you've got horses that the line in winter beat. And, as we just said, the Superlative is fantastic trial. Not only for this race, but, like, for the guineas itself. City of Troy won it last year. Need to trail one it two years before that. So, yeah, it just seems to me like almost an odd jockey booking. I get that. I guess the only way that I could explain it is maybe it's the layoff or that, you know, it hasn't run since the middle of July. Yeah. But, but I don't know. Because I feel like what City of Troy did the same thing. Did he? Or did he not? I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, you might, you might be right. But just felt to me like an unbeaten good orphan two year old. I like, I don't know. If I will be like, I'd be on ancient truth. And I like ancient truth for this as well. The line in winter seems very short to me. But I do this every season with the Aiden. The Aiden shorty and, like, one of the season closers for a two year old race. Like the Jew Hearst. And I always get it wrong. Well, let's see. Not particularly inventive for me going for the line in winter there. And I only really stand to lose unless, obviously, wins in which case I would win. Let's move on to the final race that we're covering today, which is. This is our, which handicap. I had a good look through this this morning. It's, it's one of the final races that they have in horse racing, really. 25 runners all being put into the stores before the race. Takes about 10 minutes to do that. And the Irish had a really good handle on this race in, in recent times. The likes of Charles Burns bringing over run for Oscar. But the UK have also, you know, Nikki Henderson with buzz. We've got to have a nice mention for buzz. Back in 2021, just after we started the podcast, we'll just before maybe. Um, Willie Mullins always has some hot shots in here. I, I think that there's a really short Willie Mullins favorite here. And it's going to draw a lot of attention of the market. I think taking him on is probably not a bad idea. The one that I actually thought was quite interesting was Charles Burns is one, but not run for Oscar. It's called Reverend Hubert. Um, rated 82 here comes on 82, but over fences rated 146. It's won twice this summer. Last time. Um, didn't quite go to plan, but two years ago, we used to be trained by Richard Hannan on the flat. I think he won a one mile six race, Don cast off 83. Um, six year old now. So that was when he's four. I'd say that there's been a bit of improvement since then over jumps. So the assumption would be there's been a bit of improvement on the flat as well. And we all know that Charles Burns, he's a master when it comes to lining him up and, uh, and Reverend Hubert for that, for that, uh, point got me a little bit excited. 16 to one at the moment. I think he was like 25 to one this morning. Um, so yeah, Reverend Hubert would definitely get a couple of quid each way for me. And then the other one that I thought is more obvious, but you might be more likely together. A true run for your money, six and a half who came third in the Irish Cesarich. Um, recently for Gavin Cromwell is a, is an improving four year old, but still low enough in handicap to, to prove, um, to prove the handicap wrong here. So yeah, I would say that for me, the two here, Reverend Hubert and, uh, six and a half. Have you got any, can you, can you represent the British at all? No, no, but when you were saying, um, when you're saying that, I've got to be honest, I'm really looked at the, uh, looked at the field. But when you were saying that I was wondering if Nadalie was running and I can see on your screen, I can see on the screen that he is. Uh, so I like a little poke on Nadalie who's, who's riding because, um, maybe Spencer. Oh, I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Let's definitely do that. That's great. Okay. I think this is, it's probably quite hard because like the back's like a mile away. If anyone can do it. Yeah. It's so true. Um, but, um, yeah. Nadalie was like a genuinely good flat or a highly talented flat horse. And he running a Dante or something like that. Um, yeah. He's, yeah, constantly. I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, no, for, for completely random reasons. I think Nadalie will go close. Great. That's that. That is the end of our podcast for this week. We've covered six races. Hopefully a number of winners in there for you guys. We've loved being back. We hope, we hope that you've enjoyed listening to it. And, uh, we look forward to coming with more tips, more previews, more interviews and more fun next time. Yeah. For now though, to goodbye from me, Triss. And it's a goodbye from me, Charlie. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
