Around The Grounds – Four To Follow This Saturday

Saturday’s Four To Follow 

Racing fans are in for a real treat this weekend with ten fixtures taking place across Britain and Ireland. With so much action to look forward to on Saturday, our expert editor has delved into the entries and highlighted a quartet that you should look out for. Check out their thoughts below, alongside today’s best bets – which are free to view on site now.

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Distinguished Lady (2:05 Beverley)

Beverley’s seven-race card this weekend features the Class 2 Hillary Needler Trophy and the bet265 Two Year Old Trophy both of which are staged over the flying five furlongs. Many will expect David Loughnane’s unbeaten filly Absoloutelyflawless to record another victory in the first of those feature races, however, she is not ideally drawn in stall 6 and her style of racing may not be best suited to Beverley’s stiff track. 

Of the others, DISTINGUISHED LADY appeals as the type to take a major step forward following her promising debut over six furlongs at Newmarket earlier this month. Ultimately finishing third on that occasion, Richard Hannon’s filly was badly hampered inside the closing stages by the eventual second and would have finished much closer if it wasn’t for that interference. 

With the Godolphin winner looking potentially well above average, and the second recording a decisive victory at Wolverhampton earlier this week, that opening effort from Distinguished Lady looks a fairly useful one and it appears as if Richard Hannon’s juvenile is another exciting prospect in the making for owners Amo Racing. 

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Blue For You (2:40 Beverley)

Trainer David O’Meara often excels with his recruits from other leading yards and in particular those from Irish handler Dermot Weld. The likes of Intisaab, Custom Cut and Shelir have all made the journey across the Irish Sea in recent seasons and all provided plenty of success in their outings on British Soil. 

The yard will be confident BLUE FOR YOU can follow suit, as the four-year-old son of New Approach makes his stable debut on Saturday afternoon. Rated 93, he only raced a handful of times when trained in Ireland but produced some notable performances along the way. As a juvenile, he defeated subsequent Group 1 runner-up Wembley at the Galway Festival over seven furlongs on his final start as a two-year-old. Disappointing on his opening two starts as a three-year-old, he returned to winning ways when landing a mile handicap at Leopardstown off a mark of 91, defeating three subsequent winners in the process. 

Returning from a 252-day absence this Saturday, it will be interesting to see what the market makes of David O’Meara’s recently purchased four-year-old but there is no denying that he has some interesting form lines to his name and a big run on stable debut would come as no surprise. 

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Grangeclare Glory (3:19 Cartmel)

Racing returns to Cartmel on Saturday as their season opener takes place with a competitive seven-race card. Of the seven contests on offer, the Class 2 Oakmere Homes Handicap Hurdle appears to be fiercely competitive with fourteen runners scheduled to line up in the 3m1f contest. 

Last year’s winner Wbee has the services of in-form rider Kevin Brogan this time around, however, the seven-year-old is rated 18lb higher for his course and distance victory last season and will do well to follow up. It’s no secret that David Pipe has his string in fine form at the moment and a big run from GRANGECLARE GLORY looks almost guaranteed.

Despite enduring a troublesome start to his career with the Devonshire based trainer, the seven-year-old has really started to find his form in recent months. An impressive winner over 2m5f at Newton Abbot on just his second start in handicap company last October, he then reached the frame in three of his next four starts – including when chasing home the well-touted Jpr One at Taunton in January. 

Racing for just the second time over three miles at Newbury on his penultimate start, he was far from disgraced when finishing fourth off a mark of 113 – making up plenty of ground after the final flight to stay on strongly on the run to the line. Kept to the same mark on his most recent outing at Ffos Las, Grangeclare Glory registered his second career victory with another strong staying performance over the three-mile trip, readily coming clear of his three rivals in the hands of jockey Fergus Gillard. 

Unexposed beyond three miles, David Pipe’s charge should relish the extra yardage on Saturday afternoon and with the seven-year-old receiving plenty of weight from his thirteen rivals, he looks to have an obvious chance with Tom Scudamore doing the steering. 

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Makyon (5:20 Chelmsford)

If you’re looking for one at a huge price this weekend, then MAKYON could be worth following in the penultimate race on Chelmsford’s seven-race card on Saturday. Although his form figures are uninspiring, to say the least, the five-year-old has caught the eye in his most recent starts suggesting his turn may not be all that far away. 

Fourth three starts ago at Southwell over seven furlongs, he then endured no luck whatsoever on his following start at Wolverhampton – finishing strongly in the closing stages to fill the same position under jockey Charlie Bennett. Returning to West Midlands track last time out, the five-year-old was stepped up to the extended mile for just the second time in his career. Travelling well towards the rear of the field on that occasion, Makyon was again met with a wall of horses turning for home and could never find a gap to mount any sort of challenge – ultimately crossing the line with plenty of running left. 

Whilst he clearly needs things to drop his way, Makyon should get a decent pace to aim at back down to seven furlongs this weekend and if granted better luck in running this time around, the five-year-old could outrun his lengthy odds and cause a bit of a surprise.