Tarboosh
9th-Sept-2020
I am backing Urban Beat and Tarboosh here. I think that both horses have been under-rated by the market.
Urban Beat is a high-class sprinter who has been unlucky to come up against Make A Challenge on a few occasions this season. He was well beaten by Denis Hogan’s horse at Naas in June, but he got to within a neck of him in a listed race at The Curragh in July, and he went down by a half a length to him at Naas last time, getting 3lb from him on both occasions.
Johnny Murtagh’s horse is not as good as Make A Challenge, but he isn’t far behind him, and Make A Challenge is rated 112 and is favourite for the Group 1 Flying Five on Sunday. Urban Beat is rated 107, just 2lb lower than Moss Gill and Dakota Gold, and he gets 3lb from that pair. Even on ratings, it doesn’t make sense that he is a much bigger price than both those rivals.
He has to travel from Ireland, but he is a battle-hardened sprinter, so that shouldn’t faze him. Also, his best runs have been over five furlongs on easy ground in a well-run race, which is exactly what he will have today.
The case for Tarboosh is a little less robust, and he finished well behind Dakota Gold in the Beverley Bullet last time, but he raced from stall one that day, he tried to make his ground on the far side, probably on the worst of the ground. And he actually didn’t run that badly.
Importantly, he put up two of the best runs of his career on the two occasions on which he has run at Doncaster, in winning a big handicap in 2018 off a mark of 104, and in finishing second in a listed race on his seasonal debut this term. Five furlongs is his trip, and he goes well on good and soft and easy ground. It is easy to see him running a big race.
Dakota Gold is a player, but he has run at Doncaster three times, and he has disappointed on all three occasions. Acklam Express is very interesting, a juvenile taking on his elders and getting a big weight allowance, but he is shorter than he should be in my book.
TARBOOSH WON (ADV 8/1)
URBAN BEAT 2ND (ADV 13/2)
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