PREVIEW: September Stakes (Group 3)

14.20 Kempton: September Stakes (Group 3) - Against common belief, the renewal of the September Stakes clearly proved that All-Weather racing can be exciting. An excellent field of seven runners are going to post on Saturday to fight for a decent pot of money on Kempton's Polytrack surface. Godolphin has naturally a very strong hand in this race. They won it last year with Prince Bishop and the seven year old gelding will try to defend his crown, after a very fruitful time in Meydan earlier this year, which resulted in two impressive Group successes. On that evidence he has a very fine chance here, though he has to give an awful lot of weight away to his rivals, which makes this a difficult task. Trainer Saeed bin Suroor has another strong chance in the line-up with last years Cumberland Lodge Stakes winner Secret Number. The Raven's Pass son improved nicely throughout 2013, however had a setback earlier this year and for that reason has been off the track for almost a year now. Will he be sharp enough for this tough test on his seasonal reappearance?

Globetrotter Red Cadeaux is never to be underestimated. His performance in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury last month was impressive, and he is a consistent Group performer. He hasn't won for almost two years now and isn't getting any younger. It remains to be seen if this race is run to suit him. Fellow globetrotter Dandino is hitting a bit of form finally this season, as his recent runner-up effort in the American St. Leger clearly proved. He won the September Stakes back in 2012 and must enter calculations for sure. The William Haggas trained Batallion seemed to have lost his form completely since he made a winning seasonal debut. It's hard to see him being good enough to have a realistic chance in this excellent field. Winter Derby winner Robin Hoods Bay has a nice turn of foot and is a real All-Weather specialist, he might not be entirely suited by the 12f trip. 

Arguably the strongest form to offer has the third Godolphin runner, Cat O'mountain. He ran out a fine 3rd in the Dubai World Cup, following on a couple of excellent efforts over there. He clearly seems to relish syntchetic surfaces, as he has done equally well at Kempton as he did in Meydan. Unbeaten in four starts on the polytrack, he rates a big chance to land the September Stakes. According to trainer Charlie Appleby, this race was the target for Cat O'mountain for quite a while. So it would be easy to assume that the four year old will be primed on his first start back in Europe after the successful campaign in Dubai. The only real question mark to find about Cat O'mountain is concerning his ability to stay the trip. He won over trips up to 11f, but did only have one start over further up until now - a fine 3rd place in a Newmarket Handicap when he tired late after using loads of energy throughout the race before. On pedigree he can get the trip, but it is not entirely likely. On balance though, with his excellent All-Weather record in mind, he should have every chance to run a big race here and that makes him potentially the horse to beat. 

Verdict: Plenty of interesting horses in the line-up. The last two September Stakes winners have to enter calculations, while Robin Hoods Bay really loves the All-weather. Godolphin's Secret Number is potentially a class act if fit after a long break, but it is Charlie Appleby's Cat O'mountain who gets the nod. He has to prove his ability to stay the trip, but on form as well as his preference for synthetic surfaces he must have a very big chance to land the spoils. --- Cat O'mountain @ 3/1 Bet365 - 5pts win

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We had a lovely 8/1 SP winner with Charlotte's Day on Thursday at Wolverhampton. As expected, the filly was much improved on her first handicap start over the new trip, which suited her allot on pedigree. She attacked the lead aggressively from well over 3f out and drew clear in the closing stages to win by four lengths. The hot odds-on favourite was never seen.