Racing Centre

Unicorn Asset Management July Course Series hero Dan Tucket will seek to complete a Newmarket hat-trick on September 1

NEWMARKET stages one of its most fascinating days of the racing calendar tomorrow with its six-race card dedicated to two-year-olds.

It’s a fixture that is just about guaranteed to provide a stepping stone for a future top-class performer or two.

Last year, the blossoming star that was Light Shift triumphed in the one-mile fillies’ maiden and, of course, in 2007 she went on to achieve Classic success in the Oaks at Epsom.

Who knows, perhaps the latest renewal of the Traditional Pie And Pasty EBF Maiden Fillies’ race will see another future Group 1 heroine in action. Certainly, in each of the four maidens being staged tomorrow there are intriguing runners from powerful yards.

The opening Lakenham Ice Cream Median Auction Maiden (2pm) has been won twice in the last three years by trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam and he will hope to enhance that already impressive statistic with the debutant Lord Snooty, who lines up in the 14-runner event.

As well as the maidens, there are two competitive nurseries to make up the card. The feature Express Cafes Nursery will see the return of a horse familiar to regular Newmarket race-goers - Dan Tucket.

The son of Dansili has already made a name for himself in the town this summer, winning a Qualifier and then the final of the Unicorn Asset Management July Course Series. However, his latest assignment may just prove to be his toughest to date, having edged up the handicap to a mark of 88.

“He has gone up in the weights as a result of his consistency,” outlines Tim Corby, racing manager to Dan Tucket’s ownership team, Box 41. “But he has been working with his usual enthusiasm and we’re hoping for a another bold show.”

The nine-strong field contains three of the field that he beat in the Unicorn final plus a likely sort from Stan Moore’s Hungerford yard in the shape of Dubai Dynamo. He won a Doncaster nursery over the same seven-furlong trip last Friday and could still be well handicapped as he bids to go in again, this time shouldering a 6lb penalty.

The concluding event is the 1m 1f MC Seafood And Oriental Foods Nursery (4.55) where Stubbs Art’s connections will be hoping their horse can go one better than his second at Doncaster a week ago.

Tomorrow’s fixture marks the return of racing to the Rowley Mile course and precedes Saturday’s Lester Piggott Day, which honours arguably the greatest jockey to have graced the sport. The day, sponsored by Victor Chandler, will see Lester presenting at least two trophies and signing his book Lester’s Derbys, as well as co-signing Sir Peter O’Sullevan’s book Horse Racing Heroes.

By Tony Rushmer