BIG Jim Goldie can win Doncaster’s Portland Handicap sprint for the third time in four years on Saturday with veteran JORDAN ELECTRICS.
The evergreen nine-year-old will be the oldest horse in the field for this £100,000 dash on Town Moor.
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But a light campaign which saw the joint-winning-most horse in Hamilton Park’s modern history only return to action in July looks set to pay off with the biggest win of his career.
A foot problem kept Jordan Electrics off the track until then following a fine fifth in the Ayr Gold Cup last September.
Goldie has long been a master at getting the best out of older Flat horses but his exploits with Jack Dexter, Orientor, Nicholas T and even Euchen Glen have arguably been surpassed by the improvement he’s managed to wring out of this seemingly fully-exposed handicapper.
Improving an eight-year-old by more than TWO STONE to win seven races in a season — as Jordan Electrics did in 2024 — is pretty much unheard of.
But Goldie had to start all over again after the gelding’s delayed return and four unplaced runs have at least seen him drop 3lb to a mark of 99 he runs off on Saturday.
Goldie knows his charge could be the only Scottish hope in next Saturday’s Ayr Gold Cup but despite his longing to win our richest Flat race 50 years on from Roman Warrior, Donny’s intermediate trip of five-and-a-half furlongs at 2.25 could be perfect.
Last month’s one-length fifth at York to Northern Ticker was the best sign yet that Jordan Electrics is about to peak again.
Call Me Ginger (2022) and this year’s Royal Ascot Group 1 hero American Affair have made Goldie the trainer everyone else fears in these races and I’m backing Paul Mulrennan to find the gaps at the right time and give us a double-figure-priced winner.
Billy Lee has been racing back from injury to ride Paddy Twomey’s CARMERS in Saturday’s St Leger and the jockey’s dedication can pay off in spades in the world’s oldest Classic at 3.40.
Tuesday’s meeting at Galway saw Twomey hit a seasonal-best tally of winners and Lee land two wins from his first three rides back.
Lazy Griff was my long-term fancy for the near-1m7f marathon before Sunday’s shock KO, but Carmers ran an excellent trail for this over too short a trip at York.
His previous efforts at Royal Ascot — where he won the Queen’s Vase — and Navan mark him down as a sure-fire stayer of this trip and very much on the upgrade.
Aidan O’Brien’s booking of Tom Marquand, Sean Levey Mickael Barzalona for his Leger contenders points to Coolmore having way more important business for Ryan Moore’s stand-in Christophe Soumillon to deal with at the Irish Champions Festival and quiet man Twomey can deny O’Brien a ninth St Leger.
GOOD SHOW looks to have been laid out for tomorrow’s Mallard Handicap at 1.15 and P J McDonald’s mount can cap his comeback from injury with another big-race win for Andrew Balding.
The six-year-old is still in the same Weldspec Glasgow ownership after switching to Balding from the now-retired Keith Dalgleish.
Good Show’s June comeback was his first run for nearly two years and Balding has protected his reduced mark of 86, with a 2023 Hamilton win off 88 now looking way better than it did at the time.
Recent Deauville debut winner NORTHERN CHAMPION can step up to land the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at 1.50, while Charlie Johnston’s SPIRIT OF JURA strikes me as huge each-way value at 3.40.
Jockey Archie Young and Joe Fanning could have made more use of her the last twice and this very winnable 0-100 handicap is headed by a top-weight rated just 89, which gives my selection every chance of getting back to winning form.
Delahunt’s daily tip
MOON TARGET to win 2.25 Doncaster
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Sir Mark Prescott’s filly was all at sea running around rollercoaster Goodwood last time but she’d looked a smart juvenile in her previous two races and can bounce back in today’s May Hill.
Moon Target won her maiden and novice by wide margins and, while she technically improved with her second to Precise at Group 3 level last time, she never looked happy on the switchback track in West Sussex.
Tomorrow’s left-handed galloping mile at Doncaster should be right up her street after three runs at 7f and Luke Morris’ mount is fancied to see off Charlie Johnston’s Venetian Lace to take the top prize.
THE more rain the better for WHITE BIRCH (5.30) in Saturday’s Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
Wednesday’s showers over Dublin should keep the word soft in the going description and those conditions can see my fancy see off his younger rivals at decent odds.
THE Musselburgh Gold Cup is the £20,000 highlight in East Lothian on Saturday and PAPER DOLL (6.22) can repeat last month’s course-and-distance win in the Portobello Cup.
BLACK STORM can take the 6.52 for Katie Scott, with SANBONA looking capable of defying top weight at 7.22.
Talking horses with Mr Ed
JASON HART booted home the 1,000th domestic winner of his career on Sunday.
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To do so while also bringing up his fastest century tells you plenty of his desire, drive and delicious sense of timing.
But the Hawick ace has also revealed how the catastrophic injuries suffered by former weighing-room mucker Graham Lee at Newcastle almost two years ago changed his mindset for good.
Hart rode in the race on that fateful November night in 2023 when an accident at the starting stalls left Lee paralysed from the neck down.
The 30-year-old Scot admits the incident left a lasting impression.
Hart said: “I think that night changed a lot of jockeys’ perspectives. It certainly did mind.
“When something as horrendous as that happens to someone like Graham, who most of us would see daily, it affects you.
“I’ve had plenty of days since when I’ve gone off to a meeting with a full book of rides, possibly a couple of favourites, and not ridden a winner.
“But now I think to myself, ‘At least I’m driving home to my wife and kids’.
“I wouldn’t say winning is any less important now. It’s what we do, what everyone in racing is in it to achieve.
“But what happened to Graham has changed how I deal with bad days or certain races.
“Now I’m definitely more accepting of races or rides which don’t go to plan or work out the way I’d hoped.”
Hart’s landmark British winner came at his adopted home track of York.
Yet only half-an-hour earlier, a packed Knavesmire had watched in horror as a 40mph mid-race pile-up left Jim Crowley and Trevor Whelan with multiple lower-limb fractures.
Hart, set to ride Ayr debut winner Cape Ashizuri in Saturday’s Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, added: “As jockeys we all know the risks.
“But you can’t go out thinking about them, because if you do you’re not going to ride to anything like the best of your ability.
“I’m fortunate in that I get plenty of rides, and on some nice horses too.
“But I don’t rest on my laurels, nor do I take it for granted.”
Ed’s head turner
POOR Katie Scott is still being treated for seconditis — for the third season in succession.
Five runner-up finishes since her last winner a fortnight ago mean Scott has now sent out 25 seconds compared to 14 winners.
It’s shaping up to be an unwanted hat-trick for Scot (below), whose 13 and 18 winners over the previous two years were agonisingly outnumbered by 24 and 28 seconds.
Little wonder the Galashiels ace reckons there’s a voodoo doll out there riddled with pins from head to toe.
She said: “It’s so frustrating. But we’re trying to look at it positively in that they’re are running well. Hopefully our luck will turn.”
Scots Corner
I’VE seen some bizarre race titles that don’t tell you a thing about what the company sponsoring them does.
Then you get the Ronseal ones that do exactly what they say on the tin — like the Peterhead Fish Market Handicap at Musseburgh on Saturday. Bish, bash, bosh. No faffing around. Job done.
I’ll be honest, I had to go to places the internet has never taken me before to find the meaning behind the Dropkicks Split The G Novice Stakes and Dropkicks Honky Tonk Handicap.
Turns out Dropkick Murphys is a late-night Irish bar and live music venue in Edinburgh’s Old Town popular with students — some 2,000 of whom will be descending on Musselburgh for round two on Sunday. Yikes!
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