Soft-ground specialists: three horses who will relish conditions at Newmarket on Cambridgeshire day

The bet365 Cambridgeshire takes place at Newmarket on SaturdayCredit: Mark Cranham

The ground is soft, good to soft in places at Newmarket for bet365 Cambridgeshire day following plenty of rain at the track this week. Here are three horses who will relish the conditions . . .

Puppet Master

1.50 Newmarket: Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes (Group 2), 1m

Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore took the feature Group 2 on Newmarket's Friday card with Bubbling and her stablemate Puppet Master looks to have been cherry-picked for this due to conditions.

A good second on his debut at Killarney in July, he was sent off odds-on to strike at the second attempt in a maiden at the Galway festival. He thrived in the soft ground there, scoring by four lengths under Wayne Lordan.

His pedigree indicates that this could prove his optimum surface as sire Camelot won an Irish Derby on soft to heavy, while his dam, Realtra, was a Group 3 winner on soft ground.

Puppet Master13:50 Newmarket

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Jky: Ryan Moore Tnr: A P O'Brien

Rayevka

2.25 Newmarket: Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes (Group 1), 6f

The French raider is an each-way price for this Group 1 contest and those odds could look generous granted conditions.

Trained by Francis Graffard and owned by the Aga Khan, she was supplemented for this race on Monday at a cost of £20,000, having been an impressive winner at Chantilly on her last start.

That five-length triumph came on ground officially described as soft, while she was only beaten a short-neck on her debut in a heavy-ground Deauville conditions race last month.

Rayevka14:25 Newmarket

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Jky: Maxime Guyon Tnr: F-H Graffard

Balmacara

3.40 Newmarket: bet365 Cambridgeshire, 1m1f

The news of heavy rain at Newmarket would have been music to the ears of Balmacara's connections, given all of his best form has come on soft ground or worse.

The consistent three-year-old is yet to finish out of the first three in six races, and his form figures on soft ground read 112. The two wins came in 7f novices at Doncaster, while the second was in a strong-looking handicap at Sandown in July.

Balmacara has since filled that same spot when beaten a neck back at Sandown last month, while he also finished third on his debut at Newmarket on heavy ground last November, where he had a certain Economics a place behind.