Insanity could be one to watch at Kempton on Wednesday
June 3
Paradias was always going to need his comeback race at Epsom last Friday, but he excelled himself with an excellent return, only just failing to reel in Bolster in the big mile and a quarter handicap.
Having hit the line strongly, Paradias has left Alan in a dilemma. He has tried the five-year-old several times over a mile and a half, and, while he has yet to make the first three, he only just missed the frame in a Heritage handicap at York’s Ebor meeting last August, so it could well be worth pitching him in again over the longer trip, with the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot being a possible target.
Alan won that race four years ago with Scarlet Dragon, though, with Paradias producing a career-best performance over the mile and a quarter when winning at Sandown last summer, the Listed Wolferton Stakes could be an alternative option.
The recent bout of second-itis that the Barbury team are suffering has been exasperating, but we are hoping that Loughville might end the run at Wetherby tonight, when Joe Fanning is a significant booking,
Loughville won at Bath in April and was beaten less than a length into third place last time out at Windsor, where the filly did not enjoy the best of luck in running late on.
This next 48 hours could be interesting with plenty of our confirmed entries looking to have solid chances, arguably none better than Insanity in the mile and a half handicap for three-year-olds at Kempton.
Insanity had a brief flirtation with hurdling, but his two wins have both been on the Flat. He was off four months until returning at Windsor in April, but, having only just missed the frame in a Grade 2 handicap at York in October, the drop in class suited him on the Thames-side course, where he got up close home to win in snug fashion.
Despite having been put up 4lb, Insanity has always been rated one of our nicest three-year-olds, so he is now off a mark which could well get him a place in the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot, which has long been Alan’s favourite meeting on the level.
Crystal Moon was hit with a stiff 12lb rise in the weights for winning at Hereford in January, and, in the circumstances, he ran creditably to subsequent finish third at Plumpton. He ought to again be competitive at Southwell tomorrow.
Also at Southwell we have the Waley-Cohen’s home-bred Charisma Cat making her debut in the mares bumper. She has an interesting pedigree, being by Nathaniel out of Tidara Angel, who was a classy racemare, winning a Grade 1 hurdle at Auteuil.
Another home-bred is our Lingfield raider Lunar Shadow, for whom Hollie Doyle has been booked for in the mile and a half handicap. The Apple Tree’s stud’s seven-year-old is a six-times winner and often runs her best races over this course, springing a 20-1 surprise there in the spring of last year.
We’ll have to wait until the Wolverhampton finale at 9pm for One Cool Dreamer, who has run creditable races at Kempton and Windsor since being gelded last winter.
