Ascot glory for Farringdon
Farringdon followed May’s top position in the Napchecker naps table with a quick repeat, becoming the first service to win back-to-back monthly titles since Postdata completed the double in the opening months of 2022. Karl Hedley, who topped the table in April, came second with Rob Wright, Marlborough and Robin Goodfellow also posting June profits.
The early pace was set by Karl Hedley, with Fortunatus and then Marlborough also scoring well. A remarkable run at Royal Ascot then handed the initiative to Farringdon and the Morning Star’s tipster survived a late Karl Hedley rally to win with a 12.3-point yield. Hedley finished second with 10 points, while three winners in the last five days propelled Rob Wright into third spot with 6.8 points. Marlborough finished with a five-point yield and Robin Goodfellow ended the month a point to the good.
Farringdon entered Ascot week showing a heavy double-digit loss with just two wins from 17 selections. But fortunes were about to change. Bradsell’s victory in the King Stand Stakes (14/1, 20 June) was followed by the 10/1 success of Royal Millenium in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (21 June). The losses had been eliminated, replaced by a nice profit of more than 12 points. Thunder Ball, Farringdon’s Thursday selection managed to finish fourth in the Britannia Stakes at a massive 66/1 and the week ended with a third success, Dawn Rising, (2/1, 24 June).
At that point Farringdon was almost six points ahead of Karl Hedley, but the latter hit back immediately with 8/1 Forceful Speed (Pontefract, 25 June) to regain a slender advantage. Farringdon was not to be outdone, however, and the lead was restored with the victory of Aurora Dawn (5/2) at Newbury two days later.
With both protagonists drawing blanks on the final three days of the month, there was no further change in the top two positions.
Rob Wright, with a late flurry of winners, and Marlborough, with three from three at the death, both finished strongly, while Robin Goodfellow, thanks to a final day winner, snatched a one-point profit out of thin air.
Farringdon’s success was built around Ascot, but Karl Hedley’s five winners arrived at regular intervals, with just one seven-day losing streak spoiling the fun. Along with Forceful Speed, the best priced winners were 10/1 Major Partnership (Nottingham, 4 June), and another 8/1 shot, Wild Lion (York, 17 June).
Rob Wright overcame a poor start to take third position in the June table with a 6.8-point yield. This seemed an unlikely scenario for much of the month, but with three of the last five naps prevailing (including 9/1 Freak Out at Pontefract on 27 June), the month ended sweetly. The best return came at Newbury on 15 June, when Flying Secret scored at 10/1, breaking a run of ten successive losers.
Farringdon, Karl Hedley and, to a lesser degree, Rob Wright favour big priced selections, but the flagbearer of the short-price brigade, Marlborough, was again in good shape, posting a 38% strike-rate and a 5-point yield.
Six of the first twelve naps were winners, a run completed by 17/2 Elraaed at Windsor (12 June). From that point forward, results did not fall Marlborough’s way with only two further winners in a fifteen-day period. But the last three naps were all correct calls, earning Marlborough a third profit of the year.
Robin Goodfellow hit the mark with 12/1 Rhythm N Hooves at Royal Ascot (24 June), but the 1-point June profit was only secured by the final day victory of Rwenearlythereyetdad (11/4, Doncaster, 30 June).
Fortunatus began June in imperious form with six wins from nine. A nightmare losing run of 17 followed, before winners on the last two days helped to reduce the losses. The Guardian found a couple of nice winners but lacked consistency, while Racing Post Ratings stalled after a promising start.
Regular followers of our twitter account will know that Scout topped the all-tips list on seven occasions in June. Overall, though, the best UK-based pundit in the all-tips category was Rob Wright, who only topped the list once, but finished with an 84.7-point loss compared to Scout’s 130.7-point reversal. The best daily strike-rate (63%) belonged to Garry Owen, who identified 12 winners from 19 on 25 June. This included six from seven at Ffos Las and four from six at Pontefract.
Date Published: 05/07/2023