Shraaoh halves in price for Old Newton Cup as punters keep faith

The invariably well-backed Shraaoh has been all the rage once again for Saturday's bet365 Old Newton Cup at Haydock.

Al Shaqab's four-year-old has been a beaten favourite in valuable handicaps on three of his last four starts and was sent off at 5-4 when fourth in a ten-runner race at Epsom on Derby day.

But that has clearly not put punters off as the Sir Michael Stoute-trained gelding was cut to a general 4-1 favourite (from 8-1) for the £100,000 1m4f handicap. He is a top price 5-1 and as short as 100-30 in a place.

And Al Shaqab racing manager Harry Herbert warned: "He's in good form and that [Haydock] is where he is heading. He's taken a while to come to himself – he was very green mentally last year and Sir Michael has been very patient with him.

"He didn't totally handle the track at Epsom and we haven't seen the best of him yet."

Weather watch

Godolphin's Wolferton Handicap third Kidmenever has been displaced as market leader for a race that is his likely weekend target.

He is also entered in a 1m2f Listed race at Sandown on Friday at Sandown but trainer Charlie Appleby said: "At the moment Haydock looks more favourable.

"I was delighted with his run at Ascot. It was a solid performance and he looks to have come out of the race very well. A mile and a half is going to suit him.

"He's got five or six pounds to find at Sandown so I think we might be looking towards the Old Newton Cup but we'll see what the weather does because there are thunderstorms around the country and I wouldn't want to run him on testing ground."

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