Fast Improving Saroog to Land Mallard at Doncaster

The Mallard Handicap is usually one of the most competitive handicaps we have at the back end of the season, with the horses that run in it being either potential staying group horses or top handicappers. However, this season it seems as though the race is a little below par and with just six runners we have a small field too. All of this is favourable towards Saroog, a horse that comes here on the back of two victories and one that has really found his feet recently.

Saroog is clearly a horse that relishes this trip, and the four wins he has to his name so far have all come at 1m6f, when running over shorter he has been beaten. He has won handicaps off 85, 90 and 96, and today he goes up to a career high mark of 101.

Had this been a race of the usual standard, that mark of 101 would have put me off him, because he would have had to deal with a 5lb rise plus a move into a better race. However, that is not the case here, this race is no more competitive than the last one he won, and he won by over a length on that occasion, staying on and battling really well.

You would normally need to be well handicapped to win this race, but that is not the case this time around I don’t think. What Saroog has done recently has been very impressive, and he deserves the rise in the weights he has received. Normally I would like to go against him in a top race like this one, but the fact is that this year, it doesn’t appear as though this is a tough race.

That can help him put another win on the board, the fifth of his career and his third in a row. Saroog is the choice on Friday in the Mallard Handicap.

For further tips at Doncaster, be sure to check out our tips page!