Moving into November, we are officially into the dying embers of the 2024 flat campaign. However, a few highlights remain. On Saturday, Doncaster hosts one of the standout late-season fixtures, with the home of the St Leger laying on a cracking eight-race card. The Listed Wentworth Stakes and Gillies Fillies’ Stakes top the bill from a class perspective. However, much of the betting interest centres around the final race on the card.
First run in 1876, the 1m4f November Handicap represents the final chance of the season for connections of the top-level handicappers to plunder a decent pot. With the final field confirmed, 23 runners and riders will set out in pursuit of the £70,000 in prize money. You can make a decent case for at least half the field, but it is a runner hailing from one of 2024’s most successful yards who currently heads the betting.
Valvano the Route to Victory?
Thanks to Bluestocking’s magnificent victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Del Mar delight provided by Starlust at the Breeders’ Cup Meeting, 2024 has been quite the year for Ralph Beckett. With 121 British and Irish wins and a whopping £3,749,896 in total prize money, Beckett has built on the solid work of recent seasons to become one of the biggest names in the British training ranks.
Given all that has come before, a win in a Class 2 handicap may pale in comparison. Nevertheless, victory at Donny on Saturday would provide a suitable exclamation mark to a spectacular campaign. In the three-year-old Valvano, Beckett might have the horse to do it.
For those seeking a lightly raced angle into this competitive affair, this son of Night Of Thunder is the obvious choice. He has, after all, raced only four times in his career to date and will make his second handicap start on Saturday afternoon. If there is a horse with something up his sleeve from the handicapper, he looks the most likely. Second to 2,000 Guineas champ Notable Speech on his final start at two, he has finished third in his two outings this season but may have more to offer as he steps up to this trip for the first time. At a general price of 4/1, he’s out on his own at the head of the market.
Dangers Abound Amongst the Opposition
Boasting the type of profile that punters invariably latch onto, Valvano appears likely to maintain his place atop the betting. However, this race doesn’t always fall to an exposed sort, and the mount of Hector Crouch must step up to see off a field of intriguing contenders. If not the favourite, the market suggests the winner is most likely to come from one of the following five:
- Master Builder – With four Group class wins, headlined by Tamfana’s Group 1 success in the Sun Chariot Stakes, David Menusier has enjoyed a solid year. The British-based Frenchman may end the season on a high with this tough son of Mastercraftsman. Only finishing out of the frame once in six career starts, his big day came when landing a valuable Haydock handicap in September. That came over 1m6f but his proven stamina may be a useful weapon in the predicted soft conditions
- Miller Spirit – The most in-form contender hails from the yard of father and son duo Gary & Josh Moore. Back in the Winner’s Enclosure when scoring at Epsom in September, he has followed that up with another win at the home of the Derby and a cosy victory at Newbury last time. He’s risen 18 pounds in the handicap for that hat-trick but relishes soft ground and may have further improvement to come
- Stressfree – Successful with Open Eagle in 2014, handicap specialist David O’Meara sends the four-year-old Stressfree into battle ten years on. Earning top marks for consistency, this Anodin gelding has finished in the first three in his past seven outings and looked unlucky in running when third at this track last time. With the excellent Jamie Spencer in the saddle, he boasts solid claims if handling this step up from 1m2f
- Lord Melbourne – Or perhaps Beckett himself will be the man to upset the favourite. Aptly named in the week of Australia’s greatest race and by in-vogue sire Wootton Bassett, this four-year-old brings rock-solid form. Undone by the heavy ground last time out at Leicester, he will need the rain to stay away but is only three pounds higher than when scoring at Epsom in August
- Auld Toon Loon – With only 32 winners across the past three seasons, the Tom Dascombe yard has suffered a decline in recent years. However, this recent recruit from the Lucinda Russell yard appears to be enjoying the switch to the flat. Pitched into a 1m2f event at Bath on yard debut, he made a mockery of his handicap mark to saunter to a success by almost nine lengths. He’s 10 pounds higher here but will likely be popular each way at a double-figure price