Balding hoping Tullius suited by return to Polytrack at Kempton Park
Trainer Andrew Balding is hoping Group Three scorer Tullius can get back to winning ways in the £40,000 Listed Winners Are Welcome At Betdaq EBF Stallions Hyde Stakes (6.00pm) at Kempton Park on Wednesday, November 20.
The five-year-old is one of 11 runners for the mile contest, which is the fourth Win & You're In race for the All-Weather Championships Finals Day. The winner is guaranteed a place with free entry in the £150,000 Ladbrokes Mile Final at Lingfield Park on Good Friday, April 18, 2014.
Tullius joined Balding from Peter Winkworth ahead of the 2012 season and went on to annex a valuable handicap, two Listed events and the Group Three Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury that season.
Injury prevented him from running for the next 14 months, but he returned with a 10th in the Darley Stakes at Newmarket on October 12 and followed that up with an encouraging third behind Penitent in a mile Listed contest at the same course on November 2.
Balding reported: "I am very pleased with Tullius and it was a good run at Newmarket last time. The race conditions suit him on Wednesday and he has an obvious chance.
"He had form on the Polytrack for Peter Winkworth so the surface should not be a problem and he seems in good heart.
"The feeling was that he just needed the run in the Darley Stakes. He had been off the track for a long time and he proved he came on a lot for that with his run at Newmarket next time.
"Although Finals Day is a long way off, it is a possibility but he has been nominated for the Dubai Carnival, so we have lots of options for him."
David Probert takes the ride on Tullius.
The field also includes Sirius Prospect (Dean Ivory) and Solar Deity (Marco Botti), both Listed winners in 2013.
Graphic (William Haggas) makes his debut in Listed company, having proved one of the most progressive handicappers of the turf season. The four-year-old, owned by the Royal Ascot Racing Club, has won four of his last five starts and also finished fourth in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket.
The filly Galician (Mark Johnston) has enjoyed a fabulous season. She won the valuable International Handicap at Ascot in July and went down by a head in the Listed 32Red/ebfstallions.com Fleur De Lys Fillies' Stakes at Lingfield on October 31.
The Betdaq EBF Stallions Hyde Stakes is the feature of an eight-race card at Kempton Park on Wednesday, which takes runs from 4.00pm thought to 7.30pm under the floodlights.
Osborne considering quick return for recent winner Thewandaofu
Lingfield Park stages the £14,000 32Red Conditions Stakes (1.30pm) over seven furlongs on Saturday, November 23. This is the fifth Win & You're In contest for the All-Weather Championship Finals Day, with the victorious horse being guaranteed a place with free entry in the £150,000 32Red.com Three-Year-Old Final, also run over seven furlongs at Lingfield Park, on Good Friday.
Jamie Osborne is considering Saturday's contest for Thewandaofu after she scored for a second time on Polytrack at Lingfield on November 16.
The two-year-old daughter of Clodovil also won at Kempton Park in May and has been in good form this autumn, finishing second in valuable nursery in September and a creditable fifth in the Group Two Rockfel Stakes on October 12, both at Newmarket.
Osborne said: "We will have a look at the race and see how she is through the week because she will be running back quite quickly. She seems OK but we won't decide until Thursday.
"She did what she had to do on Saturday and she was just dossing along in front. It was her second win on Polytrack but she is versatile whether it be fast ground or soft ground.
"The drop back in trip is not a concern and I think seven furlongs actually suits her better."
Also featuring among the 11 entries for this race are Ben Hall (John Gosden), who was a close sixth in the Group Two Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
Sir Robert Cheval (Marco Botti) and Orange Grove (Toby Coles), were both convincing winners of maiden races on Polytrack last time out, while Richard Hannon has entered Black Caesar and Peak Royale. Another interesting contender is Complicit (Paul Cole), who was second in a decent conditions race at Salisbury on October 2, having not been since winning a maiden at Ripon in July.
As well as by taking a Win & You're In race, horses qualify for the six championship contests on All-Weather Championships Finals Day by running in a minimum of three races at Britain's All-Weather tracks - three owned by ARC, Lingfield Park, Southwell and Wolverhampton, and The Jockey Club's Kempton Park - between October 26 and April 12.
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