Three Horses Set for a Great Season

Recent weeks have seen the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National take place. With both
those major jumps races over, we can now look forward to top flat action on both sides of the
Atlantic. Let’s look at three horses you should consider backing in the coming months.

May 3 sees the Kentucky Derby being held on May 2. The American Triple Crown race is one of
the most popular in the US and the current favorite is the unbeaten Journalism. The Michael
McCarthy trained three-year-old is currently the 3/1 favourite, according to US horse betting
websites.

He had previously won two Grade 2 races but April has seen him win the Santa Anita Derby.
Journalism by three-quarters-of-a-length from Baeza.

It was an impressive win because not everything went his way during the Grade 1 event. Initially
outpaced, Journalism then found himself being impeded. A storming finish saw him home tough
and he continues to head the market for the Kentucky Derby.

He will face strong opposition from other contenders such as Sovereignty (7/1) and Luxor Cafe
(9/1). His trainer has confirmed that Journalism has recovered well from his Santa Anita Derby
victory. Journalism could certainly write some big headlines in the Kentucky Derby.

Aidan O’Brien has already trained the winner of the Ascot Gold Cup on a record nine occasions.
June 19 sees him attempting to reach double figures. His best chance of achieving that historic
feat is with Kyprios who is the 5/4 favourite to win the race, according to UK bookmakers at
offersbet.

That’s just what he did last year when winning the race for the second time in three years. A win
in 2025 will see him join Sagaro and Stradivarius as three-time winners of this race that was first

run in 1807. Kyprios still has plenty of work to do to equal the record four wins achieved by
Yeats who was also trained by O’Brien.

Kyprios first won the Ascot Gold Cup in 2022 and was unable to take part 12 months later. Back
fit again, he won by a length from Trawlerman. He went on to win his remaining four races of
2024, three of them in Group 1 and including the Irish St. Leger.

The Aidan O’Brien runner is now seven-year-old and has won his last seven races. He has an
excellent chance of becoming the first seven-year-old since Yeats in 2007 to win the Ascot Gold
Cup.

O’Brien also trains the current second favourite, 2024 St. Leger winner Jan Brueghel (8/1).and
Illinois. The latter is another trained by O’Brien and was second in last year’s St.Leger. John
and Thady Gosden’s Sweet William is fourth in the market at 10/1 but lost three times to Kyprios
last year.

Much later in the year, the Breeders’ Cup will be held at Del Mar in California, USA on October
31 and November 1. It wouldn’t be a Halloween horror if backing Good Cheer to win the
Breeders’ Cup Distaff which is being held on October 31.

With the race being several months away, the odds for the race will fluctuate considerably over
the summer. Now is the time to back the three-year-old who is trained by Brad H. Cox. The filly
is the 6/4 favourite to win the Kentucky Oaks on May 4 for which she is the favourite. A win in
that race would certainly see the odds of 8/1 on winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff shorten
considerably.

March saw Good Cheer strengthen her position at the top of the Kentucky Oaks market.
Starting as the 2/5 favourite to win the Fair Grounds Oaks, the three-year-old won the race by
three-and-a-half lengths from Ahavah.

That made it six wins out of six for Good Cheer and the filly doesn’t know what a close finish is.
The shortest margin by which she has won has been two-and-a-half lengths. That was in the
Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Down last November.

Early April saw Good Cheer having a speed drill at Churchill Downs and all went well. Her
trainer believes she is “special”and has done everything “the right way” in her six victories.
Winning the Kentucky Oaks would be a good marker as last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff won
that race in 2024.

Thorpedo Anna would become the first filly to win this Breeders’ Cup race two years in a row
since Royal Detta in 2012. The 2024 winner is the 11/4 favourite to win again this year. A great
battle looks likely and the current odds on Good Cheer look well worth an each-way wager.

It looks like another exciting flat racing season. Journalism, Kyprios and Good Cheer can all put
big smiles on the faces of punters in the UK and across the pond.