Super chance to chase windfall for modest outlay while elite seek Classic glory

In a nutshell

It could be difficult to keep Messrs Magnier, Smith and Tabor out of the headlines on the day of the Darley Irish Oaks, but there is one valuable prize that remains beyond their considerable reach.

Newbury's Weatherbys Super Sprint (3.35) is not a race for the super-rich but a chance for those on much tighter budgets to enjoy a windfall.

Syndicates like Nick Bradley Racing with 45,000gns buy Little Kim and Eden Racing, whose Tin Hat cost 30,000gns, are among the leading challengers for the £122,000 first prize.

William Haggas has contributed two of only three Newmarket wins in 26 runnings, but he has other priorities on Saturday as he pitches the highly regarded Sea Of Class into her first Group 1 race in the Irish Oaks (5.30).

It will be a huge test of her potential against a Ballydoyle trio that includes not only the stable's Ribblesdale Stakes winner Magic Wand but also Forever Together, winner of the Oaks at Epsom.

The Curragh stages the only Group 1 of the day, with support from the Group 2 Friarstown Stud Minstrel Stakes (4.55) and Group 3 Jebel Ali Racecourse and Stables Anglesey Stakes (4.20).

The bet365 Hackwood Stakes (3.00 Newbury) is the other day's Group race, in which Equilateral, a major fancy for the Commonwealth Cup, gets a second chance to prove his Pattern potential.

There is variety, too, with Market Rasen staging the highlight of the summer jumps campaign with some familiar figures.

Paul Nicholls is back in a bid to repeat last year's triumph with Alcala in the 188Bet Summer Plate (3.15), while his former assistant Dan Skelton aims for a second Summer Hurdle (2.05) with Fair Mountain.

Boost for stayers on Sprint day

Super Sprint day at Newbury is been greatly boosted from this year with the first running of the £100,000 JLT Cup (2.25).

The new contest has been introduced in response to industry demand for an enhanced programme for stayers, with the prize fund including a £30,000 contribution from the BHA’s development fund.

With 18 declared, the race has caught the imagination of owners and trainers and will be popular with bookmakers and punters too.

Simon Clare of Ladbrokes Coral said: "The JLT Cup is a very welcome addition to an already strong card."

Train can't take strain – so bus a bit more fuss

Those intending to let the train take the strain from London to Newbury on Saturday – beware! There is a replacement bus service operating from Theale.

Newbury officials are understandably a bit miffed with the situation, and the track's head of communications Harriet Collins said on Friday: "Unfortunately, the essential ongoing electrification works on the Newbury line is something beyond our control.

“We’ve worked closely with GWR to maintain services to the racecourse and they will be operating a direct, fast replacement bus service between Reading and the racecourse. We advise those coming racing to allow plenty of time for their journeys and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

“For further information, customers are advised to visit the Newbury website for details and timetables, or to plan their journey."

No sorcery in Voodoo Doll's streak

After Voodoo Doll unseated his daughter Isabel at Ludlow in May trainer Evan Williams would have been so glad to see the back of the recalcitrant horse he put him in a seller.

But thanks to yard support, Voodoo Doll was given a second chance – to which he has responded with three wins in a row, a streak involving no sorcery.

"I wouldn't just have sold him, I'd have given him away," said Williams. "I thought he was useless. The boys in the yard thought he was okay and the fast ground has changed him. I was happy to be wrong."

Evan Williams: 'I don't think he's got a chance, but I'll probably be wrong because he's one of them that keeps surprising me'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Voodoo Doll lines up at Market Rasen (3.50) seeking a fourth consecutive success but, with his horse having risen 15lb in the handicap since the winning sequence began, Williams is pessimistic.

"I don't think he's got a chance, but I'll probably be wrong because he's one of them that keeps surprising me," he said.

"One day at Ludlow he should have won and he did everything he could not to win. If he could have climbed into the stands to avoid being first past the post he would have.

"I lost all faith in him then. I put my daughter on him and he tried Jimmy Moffatt, trainer:to run out with her."

He added: "The reason for this [winning streak] is only the ground, no other reason. It's probably one of the biggest flukes of all time."

Pendant a truly sparkling prize

Plenty of courses dangle a metaphorical carrot to attract runners but Cartmel offers carats on Saturday – 1.39 carats to be precise.

That's the weight of diamonds in the £5,000 pendant presented to the successful jockey in the £15,000 Banks Lyon Jewellers Lady Riders' Handicap Hurdle (2.30).

It's the richest hurdle race of the season for women riders and an excellent idea in the eyes of local trainer Jimmy Moffatt – who is doing an Aidan O'Brien with four runners.

"I've got a lot of similar types of horses and my owners and I think it's nice to support a race for women riders," he says. "The girls are doing really well and it's a good incentive for them."

Charlotte Jones and Lough Kent bid for victory at CartmelCredit: Grossick Racing Photography 0771

Moffatt, a Cheltenham Festival-winning rider in his younger days, is impressed by the current crop of female jockeys, and said: "There are a lot more women riding now than even five years ago and they’re good.

"I watch Charlotte Jones, for argument's sake, and when she's schooling at home with me I think, 'I was never anywhere near as good as that'. They just need a chance."

Jones, who won the £25,000 feature 2m6f hurdle for the yard on Altruism last year, partners Lough Kent among Moffatt's quartet, and the trainer said: "Lough Kent is working his way back into form and I was fairly pleased with him last time."

O'Neill and Mooney seek more Derby success

While it’s female jump jockeys in the spotlight at Cartmel, it’s female Flat riders in focus at the Curragh, which stages the Boodles Ladies Derby Handicap (6.05).

The last two winning riders, Lisa O’Neill, who partners topweight Batts Rocks, and Helen Mooney, who is on Crafted Jewel, are back for more in a field of ten for the €30,000 handicap.

Ace British-based rider Serena Brotherton crosses the Irish Sea to partner Dasmyhoss.

Yorkshire in the spotlight

The Racing Post is celebrating great Yorkshire racing names – two-legged and four – in a six-part series next week and Saturday is the start of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival, with eight days of racing and entertainment.

Sky Bet have extended their backing of the festival until 2021 and are again operating their tipping challenge, which has raised more than £35,000 for charity since its inception in 2012.

The recipients of any proceeds in 2018 will be the Injured Jockey Fund, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and New Beginnings, the Yorkshire-based racehorse retraining charity.

Ripon kicks it all off with the Ripon Bell-Ringer Handicap (4.05) the highlight, while York brings the curtain down next Saturday.

Non-runner makes it a match

Newmarket officials will be keeping everything crossed that they do not have cause to be humming the Spice Girls’ When Two Become One as, after Asoof was ruled out of the closing 1m2f handicap (5.40) with a bruised foot, only two runners remain.

The match is between Breath Caught and Danceteria – an unusual spectacle, but one that will continue to crop up now and then on turf with field sizes under pressure during this heatwave.

Read exclusive previews from 6pm daily on racingpost.com