A place in the Betway All-Weather Marathon Championship is up for grabs in the Betway Conditions Stakes (6.10pm, nine runners) at Wolverhampton on Monday, January 18.
The extended two-mile Tapeta contest sees the return of Mekong (Jamie Osborne/Jamie Spencer), who has been off the track after finishing fifth behind Stradivarius in the G1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June.
This will be Mekong’s first start on the All-Weather since landing a valuable handicap at Chelmsford City in August 2018, as the six-year-old gears up for next month’s $2.5m Long Distance Turf Handicap in Saudi Arabia, in which he was second last year.
Rainbow Dreamer (Alan King/Tom Marquand) landed this Fast-Track Qualifier impressively 12 months ago, the third leg of an impressive four timer notched up during last season’s All-Weather Championships.
The eight-year-old finished third on his first outing this winter in the Fast-Track Qualifier won by Island Brave at Newcastle on December 12, a race that also featured Carnwennan (Charlie Fellows/Stevie Donohoe) in fourth, Mildenberger (Mark Johnston/Joe Fanning) in fifth and Stargazer (Phil Kirby/Paul Mulrennan) in eighth, who all reoppose.
Mildenberger was one of the leading stayers on the All-Weather last season, with his best performance coming in a Fast-Track Qualifier at Chelmsford City in March. He backed that up with a good second to subsequent Gold Cup runner-up Nayef Road in the rearranged G3 Sagaro Stakes at Newcastle in June.
Charlie Johnston, assistant to his father Mark, said today: “We were a little disappointed with the way Mildenberger ran at Newcastle, as on the ratings he should have gone closer than he did.
“In fairness, it was his first run of the winter campaign following a little break and we think he can improve on that.
“We are building him towards Finals Day [April 2] and hopefully we can get him back in the sort of form that he showed around this time last year.
“Mekong and Rainbow Dreamer are solid rivals on the figures, but Mildenberger’s best form over the last 18 months has come on the All-Weather and a reproduction of that would give him a leading chance.”
Outbox (Archie Watson/Hollie Doyle) was a talented performer for Simon Crisford prior to being sold to Hambleton Racing in October. The lightly raced six-year-old was a close fourth on debut for current connections in a handicap at Kempton Park on January 4, his first run for 494 days.
A deep field also includes Nate The Great (Andrew Balding/Richard Kingscote) and Cosmelli (Gay Kelleway/Tom Eaves), who were second on their latest starts in handicaps at Wolverhampton and Newcastle respectively. Battle Of Marathon (John Ryan/Tom Queally) also runs.
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