© Photo Healy Racing
Emmet Mullins is aiming to pick up another prestigious Newmarket handicap as This Songisforyou takes his place in the bet365 Cambridgeshire on Saturday.
Mullins is no stranger to picking up some of Britain’s most valuable events and having landed the Cesarewitch with The Shunter last October, is back on the Rowley Mile in a bid to add the other half of the autumn double, albeit a year later.
His candidate arrives having claimed a competitive Curragh event over 10 furlongs earlier this month – also performing with real credit in a feature event at the Galway Festival before that.
“He’s an exciting horse and it was great to get the win the last day,” said Mullins.
“Things seem to have fallen into place with him, but I’m not sure how many horses are able to carry off two of these big races in such a short space of time and I think our work will be cut out.
“He seems in good order and this has been on the radar since the Galway Festival. After he finished third in the big handicap there, the owner had this in mind, and it has definitely been on the radar.”
Dylan Cunha, who enjoyed a landmark Group Two victory with Prague on Friday’s Newmarket card, is confident he has Silver Sword in the right form to make his presence felt, but has had his optimism curtailed by the testing conditions following significant rain on Thursday into Friday.
Cunha said: “This ground would not be ideal, but it is what it is and he’s well in himself – we were fairly confident until the forecast the last few days.
“He has the right draw and the outside seems faster than the inside and he’s well handicapped.
“I think it’s a strong Cambridgeshire and one of the strongest I’ve seen in the last few years, but he’s in good form and hopefully he will run well.”
“He did nothing wrong at Yarmouth, he was still a bit babyish and it was his first time in a handicap,” said Murphy when analysing the Bjorn Nielsen-owned colt’s chances.
“He had to go left at Yarmouth and come behind horses and it was a perfect prep run.
“It’s a big field and going to be a different story this time round, but hopefully I can follow the right ones.
“You would think he would go with juice in the ground. Obviously it is testing now and it’s not going to dry out too much.”
Also carrying a progressive profile is William Haggas’ Godwinson, who arrives on the back of a game success at Goodwood over a mile.
“I didn’t end up riding him at Goodwood, I was sidelined, but it looked like a good performance,” said his rider Tom Marquand.
“He looked like he enjoyed the (good to soft) ground there and the trip looks perfect, so hopefully he can go well.”
Coeur D’Or and Penzance were both declared as non-runners before the cut-off to allow reserves Ebt’s Guard and Poniros to take their places in the field, with Watcha Matey and Crack Shot also taken out of the race on Friday.
