Hot To Trot: Pablo should prove tough to beat

Flat trainer: Mark Johnston (click here to see all entries)

Mark Johnston has his team in fine form at present, a fact that was underlined by the yard’s two winners at Royal Ascot last week, namely Baghdad in the King George V Stakes and Main Edition in the Albany Stakes.

The last-named is set to make her next eagerly-anticipated appearance in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket’s July Festival, which is now less than two weeks away – the major summer festivals come thick and fast at this time of year – but Johnston has plenty of ammunition to fire in the meantime, with 15 entries across Thursday’s seven-race card at Haydock.

The Mark Johnston-trained Main Edition battles bravely to win the Albany Stakes @Ascot and maintains her unbeaten record (3-3). #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/q3jGeOU989

— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) June 22, 2018

Perhaps the most interesting is Pablo Escobarr in the seven-furlong novice stakes. Bred in the purple (by Galileo and out of three-time Group 3 winner Bewitched), he shaped promisingly when second on his debut over C&D, just unable to peg back one who had the benefit of experience and a better position in a steadily-run affair. He looks sure to progress with that initial experience under his belt and should take plenty of beating.

Johnston also has three entries in the six-furlong nursery, the best of which could be Cupboard Love.  The son of Iffraaj was disappointing at Ripon last time, but he starts out in handicaps from a fair mark judged by his impressive win over C&D at the beginning of the month, and could be worth another chance.

Jumps trainer: Dr Richard Newland

Dr Richard Newland has a terrific record with his recruits from other yards – see Artful Artist who resumed winning ways on just his second start for Newland at Southwell recently – and the trainer has assembled a typically strong squad to go to war with in the summer months.

Henry Smith has a slightly different profile to other new members of the team – all of his starts for previous connections came on the Flat – but he showed plenty to work on when second on his hurdling/stable debut at Bangor earlier this month, and it would be no surprise if he were to step up markedly on that form next-time-out; he holds entries at both Stratford (Tuesday) and Worcester (Wednesday) next week and will be of definite interest wherever he goes.

The promising Blagapar is another horse to have contributed to the yard’s fine form of late, readily winning a novice handicap on just his second start over fences at Uttoxeter last time, hitting the front early in the straight and quickly forging clear. The seven-year-old has a 6 lb higher mark to contend with if lining up in the 23f handicap chase at Worcester on Wednesday, but he is still lightly-raced for one his age and open to further improvement in this sphere.

Under the radar: Roger Fell 

With 27 winners on the board at this relatively early stage of proceedings, Roger Fell is well on the way to the best campaign of his short training career to date – he trained 34 winners in what was just his second season with a licence in 2016.

Most of the damage has been done in a terrific run of form recently, with nine winners (at the time of writing) in the month of June alone. The latest of those came courtesy of Dapper Man at Nottingham on Thursday, the four-year-old going clear from halfway and always in control thereafter. That represented a clear career-best effort and – the winner of four of his 12 starts in 2018 so far – he remains one to keep onside, well worth a second look if taking up a potential engagement at Haydock on Thursday.

Finally, Zylan took advantage of a much-reduced mark over seven furlongs at Beverley on Tuesday, making the running and always doing enough late on. The six-year-old had been doing most of his running over sprint trips prior to that, but he could be seen back over seven on Thursday’s Haydock card and looks sure to give another good account if proving equally tractable in front, still potentially well treated judged by the pick of his efforts.