Is First Principle another Crown Of Oaks? William Haggas on the hunt for more handicap success with unexposed three-year-old

William Haggas won five handicaps across last Saturday's cards, with new Cambridgeshire favourite Crown Of Oaks contributing to the successes.

Like that horse, First Principle is a three-year-old and also holds an entry in the big Newmarket handicap. He needs to win here off an opening mark of 88 to warrant going for that future assignment.

Could he be thrown in? Quite possibly. The horse he beat on his debut at Kempton in December is now rated 100 and the third won his only start since. However, that is arguably his strongest piece of form.

He failed to justify odds of 4-9 at Thirsk on his following start and beat only a 70-rated rival in a Windsor novice last time. He looked good in doing so, but is likely to be a short price in this much hotter race and the addition of a tongue-tie begs questions.  

Topweight Molveno landed the Italian Derby in June, which was a step up on anything he had achieved previously and prompted the assessor to raise his mark to 105. It is hard to know what the form is worth and he hasn't been seen since, but the fourth did go on to land the Italian Oaks in style.

Devil's Advocate and Wolf Of Badenoch have good form to their name. The former finished fourth in the Dante while the latter had good form in Group company at two. A reproduction of those efforts would see them get involved, but recent form doesn't provide much encouragement.

The more unexposed types make more appeal. Hopewell Rock has done little wrong and can be competitive on his second handicap start, while of most interest is Castle Stuart. He has been penalised just 1lb for finishing third at the Ebor meeting and that effort can be upgraded as he made up masses of ground after racing keenly.
Analysis by Maddy Playle

What they say

Marco Botti, trainer of Molveno and Palazzo Blu
It's Molveno's first run since he won the Italian Derby. He's gone up a fair bit in the ratings but he's had a nice break after his last start and he seems well and fresh. In most of the Group races he'd need to carry a penalty, so it makes sense to drop into a handicap against three-year-olds. The ground should be okay. I thought Palazzo Blu ran well at Newmarket. We've been waiting for give in the ground for him and this seems the right track, and he should have a squeak.

Thady Gosden, joint-trainer of Devil's Advocate
He's down in class after running in a Group 3 race at Windsor last time and he should be competitive.

George Boughey, trainer of Hopewell Rock
He'd been off the track for a long time before his run at Newbury, so we were delighted with his comeback and he's done well in the months since. We're hoping he should be very competitive.

Luke Morris, rider of Immediate Effect
He's been a model of consistency and has been running really well in competitive races. This might be the most competitive he's faced against more unexposed horses, but he's very solid. I hope he can be in the mix.

William Haggas, trainer of First Principle
He won a little race at Windsor last time and is going up in trip and this will tell us where we are.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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