Ramazan set to thrive at Haydock while Belmont Stakes moves home

Jumby and Pogo, the last two winners of the John Of Gaunt Stakes, are among the familiar names in the field for this year’s renewal at Haydock on Saturday, but they may struggle to contain Richard Fahey’s progressive four-year-old Ramazan (3.35) as he makes his first start in a Group Three.

Ramazan is hardly unexposed, with 16 starts in the book already, but he took a significant step forward when fitted with a visor for the first time since his juvenile days for the Victoria Cup at Ascot last time.

He travelled smoothly to two out and led until the final strides, and this return to a track and trip over which he was an impressive winner last summer gives him every chance of getting off the mark in Pattern company.

The winners of the first two legs of the American Triple Crown, meanwhile, will square off in the final race of the series when the Belmont Stakes moves to a temporary home and shorter distance at Saratoga in upstate New York on Saturday.

Mystik Dan was a narrow winner in one of the closest ever finishes to the Kentucky Derby in early May, but lost out by two-and-a-quarter lengths to Seize The Grey in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico two weeks later.

Seize The Grey’s victory in the nine-furlong contest made 88-year-old D Wayne Lukas the oldest trainer ever to saddle the winner of a Triple Crown race, and he will extend the record by another three weeks if he can follow up over an extra furlong this weekend.

The layout of the track at Saratoga has led to a cut from 12 furlongs to 10 for Saturday’s race, which is due to return to its traditional home in New York from 2026 after a $455m redevelopment.

“I felt I had him really good for the Preakness and I was pretty right,” Lukas said this week. “I’m not so sure I don’t have him a little further down the basepath for this one. “I’m watching him mentally the last two weeks. There’s no reason why we won’t get that same effort or better. No reason at all. We might walk over there and get a better effort.”

Haydock 1.50 Last season’s breakthrough sprinting star Live In The Dream made a fine return to action in the Temple Stakes and will be very tough to peg back in this lower grade

Beverley 2.05 A low draw is generally a big advantage over five furlongs here and Tom Clover’s Over Spiced could be worth an interest at around 10-1 to make the most of her pitch in stall four. She improved to get off the mark at the second attempt at Leicester last month and the second and third home there were both winners next time.

Haydock 2.25 Divina Grace did well to finish within two lengths of the winner on her return to action at Goodwood having raced close to a very strong pace and Rae Guest’s filly has an obvious chance off just a 1lb higher mark.

Beverley 2.40 Highly competitive despite a small field but Richard Fahey has won two of the last four runnings of this race and Moving Force looks sure to progress from his debut success over course and distance last month, in a race run in a useful time.

Haydock 3.00 She needs to be forgiven a poor final run of the season but Sea Theme looked sure to improve into a Group-class when winning the Galtres Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting and could well be a third consecutive winner of this race by Sea The Stars for her trainer, William Haggas.

Beverley 3.15 Billyb is back below his last winning mark on turf and made a promising start for Craig Lidster when fifth in a big field at York two weeks ago. Stall four is also a useful draw in a race where the high numbers often end up very wide.