Hot To Trot: Appleby continues full steam ahead

Flat trainer: Charlie Appleby

As the graph below demonstrates, Charlie Appleby’s form is pretty much in line with previous years, but the red line shows a steep upward curve since the beginning of June, denoting that Appleby has turned it up a notch since entering the busy summer months.

As you can imagine, Appleby has plenty of entries this coming week, starting with Cherokee Mist in a minor event at Wolverhampton on Monday. He cost $500,000 as a yearling, and was sent off favourite for his debut at Lingfield this month, but was too green to do himself justice, looking badly in need of the experience. It would be no surprise if he left that run well behind now. On the same day, Expressionist holds an entry in a good-looking minor event at Pontefract. He made a good winning debut at Ascot in May and is best forgiven his latest run in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, slowly away and always on the backfoot. It’s likely he is capable of much better and is worth another chance. Looking further ahead, Sandown host their Coral-Eclipse card next Saturday, and Barney Roy and 2018 Derby winner Masar both hold entries. Both didn’t meet expectations in their respective races at Royal Ascot, but, Masar should come on a great deal for that and he will be an interesting runner if taking his chance back at a mile and a quarter.

Jumps trainer: Alan King

On the face of it, it might look like Alan King isn’t in much form, having saddled only one winner (at the time of writing) over jumps in June. However, he is currently operating at a 64.8% run-to-form ratio and his runners are well worth following in the coming weeks – in both codes.

King starts off at Uttoxeter and Cartmel on Sunday, where Mahlermade has been declared for a competitive handicapchase at the first-named track. He won on good-to-firm ground at Haydock towards the end of last season and ran to a similar level when second at Southwell last time. He clearly goes well on fast ground so the expected heat wave should be in his favour. At Cartmel, both Dino Velvet and Passing Call are set to take their chance in the two-mile handicap hurdle. Both seem to like a sound surface but it would probably be the former who has the strongest chance on form. Later in the week, Fidux would be a leading player if taking his chance in the novices’ chase at Stratford on Tuesday. A useful hurdler, he made the perfect start to his chasing career at Hexham earlier this month, not always fluent at his fences but showing good flat speed to pull it out of the fire on the run-in. He should have learnt plenty from that experience and rates the type to follow up under a penalty provided he brushes up on his jumping.

Under the radar: Roger Fell

The graph below shows that Roger Fell is having by far his best summer yet in his short training career. Fell has saddled no less than 10 winners already in June, and he is well worth following to continue the trend in the coming weeks.

Fell has several entries at Wolverhampton, Catterick and Pontefract on Monday, of which his best chance could be Rousayan, who resumed winning ways in good style at Carlisle on Wednesday. He will remain well treated on old form if turned out under a penalty and will surely be of interest again if in the same form. Later in the week, Guardia Svizzera is potentially well handicapped now returned to turf and holds an entry at Thirsk on Wednesday. He rattled off a hat-trick last summer, and has found himself back below his last winning mark having made little impact since. It would be no surprise to see him turn the corner now. The same can be said for Fard, who holds an entry on the same card, having return to form at Redcar last time. He also should be competitive if building on that.