HORSE RACING FIXTURES AND RESULTS

Sun Chariot Stakes 2016: Volta currently a live contender

Adam Brookes looks at the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday and gives you his best bet.

The Sun Chariot Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile has been won by France four times, Britain twice and Ireland once in the last eight years, and the latest renewal looks set to be another international affair. The 10 entries at this stage are made up of five horses trained Britain, three in France and one from each of Ireland and South Africa, with the ratings headed by Alice Springs from Ballydoyle.

Alice Springs looked a very smart filly when winning the Falmouth Stakes on the July Course at Newmarket in July and the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown this month, both against her elders. Some might put her disappointing effort in the Prix Rothschild in between down to the travel, making the link with another below-form effort in the French 1000 Guineas in May, though that may not be the case given she ran well when second at the Breeders’ Cup last year. With that in mind, there’s not much value in her current price of 6/4.

Alice Springs only sets the standard on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings by 1 lb from Ervedya, too, with South African mare Smart Call just 1 lb behind Ervedya. All three French fillies are by Siyouni, with Ervedya and Siyoushake four-year-olds and thus from his first crop. The French-trained Siyouni ran once in Britain, when fourth of nine to Canford Cliffs in the 2010 St James’s Palace Stakes, but his best progeny Ervedya has already raced on these shores twice before, winning the Coronation Stakes in 2015 and finishing fifth in the Queen Anne at the latest Royal Ascot. Ervedya turned in her best effort of this term when third of eleven to Ribchester in Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last time, but she never really looked like winning and the form was still slightly below her best last year; she’s a fair price at 7/2 but no more than that.