La Estrella

Has some form (tu)

Stand Guard equally as good ....

All-weather stars clash to find king of the sand

BY LEE MOTTERSHEAD 7:30AM 28 JAN 2014

IT MIGHT not quite rival Grundy versus Bustino but the stakes will be high when La Estrella and Stand Guard, the sport's two most prolific platers, go head to head in their pursuit of all-weather history as Southwell stages the most eagerly anticipated seller of modern times.

With Aureate and Conducting ruled out, three horses will contest the 1m4f Coral-backed event (2.20), whose £2,264.15 first prize is much less of a lure than China Castle's record of 25 all-weather wins, a mark Don Cantillon's La Estrella will equal and John Butler's Stand Guard will get within one success of matching if victorious.

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Southwell 2.20 card
The two veterans have suffered plenty of ailments during their careers, but are closely matched with Racing Post Ratings giving them an identical chance of winning.
Butler said: "It's the biggest day of my racing career and it's the only record I'm ever going to have a chance of breaking.

"I'm very surprised Don is taking my horse on. He knows my horse and even stroked him on the gallops. On BHA ratings we are 4lb better but La Estrella is a 4lb better horse at Southwell. That puts us on a par. The horse who turns up in the best form will win.

La Estrella has won 15 of his 16 outings on Southwell's Fibresand and Cantillon said: "Even though he won last time at Lingfield I thought he was useless that day. Southwell is his course.

"He is amazing there and really opens up down the straight. I'll be having a decent bet because I'm quite confident he'll win."

Certainly worth watching

Thatchmaster later on your type of price Scotia...

Better placed and record than form, has some really dodgy legs and the trainer has done wonders with him..

Both sitting on 24 all weather wins now

The stewards looked into the withdrawal and stipendiary steward Greg Pearson said: "We have opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of La Estrella from race three and we have taken evidence from the BHA veterinary surgeon, the senior racecourse veterinary surgeon and the equine welfare integrity officer who identified the horse when it arrived on course.

"There will be a report forwarded to the BHA for further investigation."

Stand Guard went off at the price of 1/66. Thats shortest price of a winner I ever seen. Interestingly if you took a bet before the scratching of La Estrella there was only around 55c deduction to the rand. Stand Guard was between 11/10 to 13/10 before the scratching.

I actually thought Stand Guard would have been favourite for this race,had a wee bit in hand on ratings