Doncaster St Leger Festival Day 2 Tips: Owen’s Sweet on William on Friday

The Betfred St Leger Festival continues on Friday with another eight-race card - half of which are Extra Place Races - running from 13:15-17:20. 

Here's my Doncaster St Leger Festival Day 2 tips.

13:50 - Frescobaldi @ 5/1

Aidan O'Brien has won many, many races, but never the Betfred Flying Scotsman Stakes. I think that's about to change.

FRESCOBALDI is a two-year-old son of No Nay Never who debuted at the Curragh in April, finishing a respectable fifth of 10 behind subsequent Group 2 winner Green Sense.

A month-and-a-half later, he went down by just a head to the 87-rated Green Soul under a claimer at Fairyhouse, before getting off the mark at the third attempt in the £50k Convivial Maiden at York's Ebor Festival last month.

The runner-up on the Knavesmire, Spyce, cost 280k guineas and holds an entry for the G1 Futurity Stakes back at Donny in October. Naval Light and New Monarch, who finished third and fourth respectively, are both rated 86. Fine form, then.

There ought to be a lot more to come from the selection, who's been having sizeable gaps between races and only last time benefitted from stable jockey Ryan Moore in the saddle. He's out for the rest of the season through injury, so Christophe Soumillon is the more-than-able deputy on Friday.

Bar the 105-rated Do Or Do Not, who ultimately finds a way to lose every time, I believe Frescobaldi's form is as strong as anything in this field and he must have every chance for tip-top connections.

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15:00 - Sweet William @ 11/8

I suspect every man and his dog will be backing SWEET WILLIAM for the Doncaster Cup - and for good reason.

John & Thady Gosden's six-year-old son of Sea The Stars is already a bit of a stalwart of the staying division, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Kyprios, Trawlerman, Trueshan and Co over the years. He meets nothing of that ilk on Friday.

He won this very race last season, beating the aforementioned Trueshan, a younger Coltrane, Point Lonsdale and stablemate Gregory. I repeat, he meets nothing of that ilk on Friday.

If any of his seven rivals on Town Moor are even close to that sort of level, it's Sunway - and Coltrane if he was to roll back the years. That seems unlikely, though.

Sunway has only half-a-length to find on the selection based on their meeting in the Goodwood Cup in July, but the extra couple of furlongs and softer ground is very much in Sweet William's favour, so I'll be shocked if that form is reversed.

Famous last words, but I think Hipop De Loire is a shocking price at time of publication, while Kyle Of Lochalsh has 10lbs to find as he makes the jump from handicap to Group company. The likes of Pendragon, Oxford Comma and Tashkhan have plenty to find on recent form.

For me, we're looking at an odds-on shot parading as an odds-against chance. We like those.

16:45 - Kinnalargy each-way @ 9/1

Finally, an each-way suggestion for the penultimate race of the day - a nursery handicap over six furlongs.

If able to bounce back from a bitterly-disappointing effort at York last time out, Kevin Ryan's KINNALARGY can at least make the frame in this Extra Place Race (five places instead of four at 1/5 odds).

The two-year-old Havana Grey colt, who fetched £125k at a breeze-up in April, improved drastically for his debut at York in May to oblige at the second time of asking at Redcar the following month.

But it's his subsequent start at Thirsk in July that I want to focus on. He finished third of 12 in North Yorkshire, just over a length behind Declan Carroll's Lifeplan, who landed the Gimcrack at York's Ebor Festival. The selection was giving three pounds to that rival, too.

Runner-up was Mill Reef and Middle Park entrant Flying Comet, who on the first of this month won a Windsor handicap off a mark of 86.

That form is very strong and a replication of that level, off a mark of 85 with the highly-useful Jack Callan claiming five pounds, would make him very dangerous in this company.

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