The feature race on Saturday is The Beverley Bullet Stakes. A fast and furious dash up a five furlong course notorious for its stiff uphill finish, some of the classiest sprinters around will be heading to Beverley to battle it out in the thrilling highlight on the racecourse’s richest raceday.
Ten runners, with 70 race wins between them, line up for the £36,862 first prize and here is a runner-by-runner guide to all of their chances.
Copper Knight (8 wins in 36 starts)
The Tim Easterby-trained five-year-old finished fifth to the fastest sprinter in Europe – Battaash, in last week’s Group One Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York and comes into this race with a real live shout.
Copper Knight, who is owned by the Middleham Park racing syndicate, is already a Listed winner this season, having claimed victory in the John Smith’s City of Walls Stakes at York in July.
Corinthia Knight (9 wins in 27 starts)
The four-year-old gelding is probably the second most successful horse that the Ontoawinner syndicate have owned after their wonderful journey with Quiet Reflection.
After a brilliant two-year-old season, the three-year-old Corinthia Knight landed the Montenica Listed Stakes at Chantilly, before coming home to lift the big one at Lingfield- the season ending 3 Year Old All Weather Championship Stakes.
The Archie Watson-trained four-year-old finally got a turf win on the board when he scored impressively in a five furlong sprint at Pontefract in July.
Danzeno (7 wins in 36 starts)
This Group Three-winning eight-year-old, trained by Mick Appleby, appears to have been around forever and is a regular in these top sprint races.
A two-time winner already this season, he also finished third in both the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and again in the Shergar Cup Dash at the same venue.
He is clearly in great heart and backers needn’t be put off by his age- an eleven-year-old won this last year!
Judicial (11 wins in 32 starts)
The seven-year-old has been a fantastic servant to the Elite Racing Club already but the gelding’s only success so far in 2019 was a short head victory in a two-horse race at Newmarket.
Judicial’s record at Beverley however is exemplary, having won two from two there and also holding the track record.
After finishing out of the places at Glorious Goodwood, the Julie Camacho team are hopeful that Judicial’s fortunes can be reignited at one of his “favoured” tracks.
Ornate (8 wins in 49 starts)
Trainer David Griffiths is attempting to record a third successive victory in the Bullet after his now retired Take Cover took the race for the last two years.
Ornate won the five furlong Epsom Dash on Derby day in June, before going to Beverley a fortnight later and winning again under regular rider Phil Dennis.
He ran like a scolded cat for five furlongs in the Stewards’ Cup at Glorious Goodwood before being reeled back in by the pack in the final furlong, and he was far from disgraced when seventh to Battaash in the Nunthorpe, which was won in a record breaking time.
Tarboosh (9 wins in 33 starts)
Tarboosh is winless thus far this season and he hasn’t quite hit the lofty heights that he achieved last year.
The Paul Midgley-trained six-year-old was in cracking form last season winning four races in total, including a victory at Doncaster on his final start of the year.
He’s one of three course and distance winners in this field with his own East Yorkshire trophy lifting ceremony coming back in August 2017.
Tis Marvellous (4 wins in 18 starts)
The Clive Cox-trained Tis Marvellous comes to Beverley on the back of a big Heritage Handicap win at Ascot and a superb runner-up finish in the Wokingham.
Winner of the Robert Papin Stakes as a two-year-old at Maisons-Laffitte, the now 111-rated five-year-old is in a rich vein of form at the moment and an 8lb rise shouldn’t hold him back at this stage of his career.
He won the Shergar Cup Dash nicely off a mark of 100 in August of last year and he now looks the type who can mix it with the best in these top sprint races.
Fairy Falcon (1 win in 7 starts)
Another Yorkshire entry comes in the shape of Bryan Smart's Fairy Falcon, but on all known form she has plenty to find in this company. Her sole win came on just her second start in a Novice Stakes event at Thirsk.
The four-year-old filly ran here in June and although finishing third of three, she was right in the ruck behind Ornate and Final Venture. A reproduction of that run would give her some kind of a chance in this race.
Intense Romance (9 wins in 23 starts)
The Michael Dods-trained mare was entered in the Nunthorpe last week at York but failed to join her stablemate Mabs Cross due to the quick ground conditions.
Her nine wins have either been on the all-weather or on soft to heavy going so connections will be doing more than one rain dance between now and 3.15pm on Saturday.
A hat-trick of wins for the five-year-old last autumn brought her season to a satisfactory close and boosted her official rating, but she looks a very ground dependant horse indeed.
Queens Gift (4 wins in 11 starts)
Should his other runner be scratched due to the going conditions on Saturday, Michael Dods will still be represented here by a four-year-old filly called Queens Gift.
Winner of her last two starts at Doncaster and Ripon she has had a decent break and has had this race on the agenda for some time.
Owners Geoff and Sandra Turnbell will be hoping that she can register some black type here to help with their breeding operation.
Beverley Bullet: Conclusion
If Ornate blasts out of the stalls in front I have a gut feeling that he just won’t be caught.
I really hope that his Stewards’ Cup performance has not clouded my judgement, but he was very quick over five furlongs that day and Beverley is definitely a front-runners track.
888sport suggests: Ornate (e/w).
