Horse racing tips: ‘He's a cut above anything else in the field' – Templegate's NAP brings red-hot form
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WISE APPROACH (4.10 Newbury, nap)
Was the only colt to get anywhere near potential superstar Charles Darwin in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out. The winner was putting in the juvenile performance of the season so this son of Mehmas did well to finish just over two lengths behind for Charlie Appleby. He stayed on really strongly under William Buick over five furlongs so this move up in distance should bring more improvement. He's a cut above anything else in the field for this Listed Bowl Stakes, with improver Amorim looking likely for the forecast spot.
CAMTANK (4.00 Nottingham, nb)
This daughter of Camelot left her debut form firmly behind when winning by a cosy two lengths at Lingfield last time. She didn't have to hit top gear and has a lot more to come for William Haggas.
BANANA (5.05 Nottingham, treble)
She makes plenty of appeal again after her barnstorming win over this trip at Chepstow seven days ago. She looked beaten inside the final furlong only to rally just in time for the line. This is a slight drop in class from that contest and there's another win in her.
She took a little time to get going at Salisbury last time but showed good pace once at top speed to win going away. A 4lb rise for that looks fair and she's right in the hunt again.
Templegate's tips
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Balls used in the series between England and India will be examined by the manufacturer after the first three Tests were blighted by Dukes balls have been regularly changed because they have gone out of shape, causing frustrating delays in England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will collect as many used balls as possible and return them to Dukes by the end of the week."We will take it away, inspect and then start talking to the tanner, talking about all of the raw materials - everything," Dilip Jajodia, owner of British Cricket Balls Ltd, who make the Dukes, told BBC Sport."Everything we do will be reviewed and then if we think some changes need to be made or tightened up, we will." What has been the problem? The ball used for Test matches is decided by the host board. Whereas this is the Dukes in England, Tests in India are played with a SG ball, while the Kookaburra is used in Dukes, in production since 1760, has long been regarded as a high-quality product but there have been issues in Test and county cricket in recent has been going soft prematurely - long before it should be changed after 80 overs of an innings - and when a ball goes soft taking wickets becomes harder. Bowlers say there is not the same zip off the pitch and fewer edges carry to ECB's Professional Game Committee and Cricket Advisory Group analyses data collected in relation to balls across the season. This would include the number of balls changed, along with reports from umpires and around the quality of balls have been monitored in recent years and there is an awareness of increased instances of balls becoming softer more quickly but the issue came to a head during the third Test between England and India at Lord's. There were five ball changes during England's first innings, while one was switched after only 10.2 overs on the second morning."The cricket ball should be like a fine wicketkeeper - barely noticed," former England bowler Stuart Broad said."We are having to talk about the ball too much because it is such an issue and is being changed virtually every innings. Unacceptable. "It has been like this for five years now. Dukes have a problem. They need to fix it." What is causing the issue? The process for making the Dukes remains a traditional are still produced from cork, wound in string, cased in leather and held together by a hand-stitched seam. The cow hides that provide the leather are also dipped in dye, providing further says there could be a number of factors at play. "One is the raw materials which are natural and then has to be moulded and put together by a human being," he said."Obviously the major aspect of a cricket ball is the leather that holds the whole thing together, and if the fibres that form the animal skin has got some sort of weakness or inherent problem that's something we can only find if it fails by further inspection and investigation."He added: "Covid did have a very serious effect on all sorts of businesses. "In the whole process of tanning leather I would expect changes in personnel, whether either they passed away or decided that it was all too difficult. "Also it may be some of the chemicals are not available any more because companies are going out of business. It could be the cattle themselves or it could be the processes."There is literally almost one tanner left that does cricket ball leather so there's not a choice. 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There is no snap answer, all you can do is to go through the routine of everything that you do and try and identify."There are, of course, alternatives available to the ECB. They do not have a set contract with Dukes and their deal is renewed on an annual basis.A hand-stitched ball made by Gunn & Moore is used in county 2nd XI cricket. One reason for this is to provide an alternative to Dukes should it ever be Kookaburra has been controversially trialled in the County Championship since 2023 and is being used for four rounds of matches this season. This was an innovation led by the England team, to help prepare bowlers for overseas the two rounds of Championship cricket already played using the Kookaburra this season, an average of 1,194.66 runs were scored per match - a significant theory for the ineffectiveness of the Kookaburra in this country is it is not suitable to the softer pitches of the UK, as opposed to harder surfaces of the southern hemisphere."I can assure you we are on the case all of the time," Jajodia said."I spend my life almost producing these balls and I personally pick the balls for each game and when you look at them and they are new they look like works of art, they really are. They're wonderful. "But what you don't know is what it's going to do when it's actually taking hammer and that's the problem with the product."
