The Desmond Stakes betting tips given by Horsebetting.com experts for this Group 3 feature at Leopardstown over 1m on their evening card of Thursday, 16 August say Threeandfourpence appeals most to win for Aidan O’Brien. Pincheck from Jessica Harrington’s stable rates the main danger, while the Fozzy Stack trained Zibha is one to consider each way too. Our 2018 Desmond Stakes betting tips preview has further details.Threeandfourpence gets Desmond nodThe form of the Irish 2000 Guineas looks key to the 1m Group 3 Desmond Stakes that headlines Leopardstown’s evening card this Thursday (19:20), so Threeandfoundpence – the fourth home in that Curragh Classic – sets the standard here for trainer Aidan O’Brien and is worth a wager to win.
Ballydoyle maestro O’Brien has saddled five previous winners of this contest and in Threeandfourpence has a colt who is the joint top-rated in this year’s renewal that was beaten just 4 1/2 lengths in that Group 1 test back in May. He was bumped at a key stage in the Guineas when under pressure and couldn’t find any extra close home.
Two of Threeandfourpence’s stablemates finished ahead of him at The Curragh in the runner-up U S Navy Flag and third Gustav Klimt, and they have come out since and run some huge races. While the former dropped back in trip to land the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket in a superb bit of placing by connections, the latter chased home Without Parole in a red-hot renewal of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Gustav Klimt not only reversed the form with Guineas winner Romanised, but beat Threeandfourpence by six lengths in yet another tough top level assignment. O’Brien has lowered this son of War Front sight’s considerably since and he got back on track when easily winning a race at Naas on his penultimate start.
Threeandfourpence was sent off odds-on for that, but then finished lame in the Group 3 Thoroughbred Stakes at Glorious Goodwood last time out. Something was clearly amiss as he was beaten 5 3/4 lengths down in fifth but, whatever the problem 13 days ago, he has been pitched into similar company here.
That is surely a sign from connections that they have got Threeandfourpence right and he will surely give a better account of himself now back on the home side of the Irish Sea. He looks to have a group prize in him and gets weight from all but two of his eight rivals in this.
There is no doubting he gets the trip as he’s out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, so Threeandfourpence is fully expected to do himself justice and score an overdue success. We thus put him up as our main selection in the 2018 Desmond Stakes betting tips.Pincheck looks a dangerAnother sort who is turning out again quickly is the Jessica Harrington trained gelding Pincheck, who has finished second on his last two starts. The four-year-old has joint top-weight to carry here but, compared to his penultimate outing where he had to give the younger horses 13lb, race terms are more favourable here.
Pincheck chased home the re-opposing Zibha over course and distance in the Group 3 Amethyst Stakes when beaten 1 1/2 lengths, but now meets that rival 10lb better off at the weights. That is a big swing in his favour and suggests that the form could well be reversed here.
Although then a three-length second to Making Light just five days in a Listed affair at Cork after being given a break, the fact that connections send Pincheck out again in this is significant. An official mark of 105 puts this son of Invincible Spirit right in the mix.
If able to reverse the placings from the Amethyst – a similar grade affair – Pincheck should be involved in the finish, provided this outing doesn’t come too soon off the back of his last run. It’s for those reasons that he looks the main danger to Threeandfourpence.Zihba an each-way puntThe aforementioned Zibha is already a winner at this level but, unlike the other three-year-olds lining up in the Desmond, has a 3lb penalty to carry as a result. He hails from the yard of Fozzy Stack, however, who saddled Alexios Komnenos to land the spoils in this race last season, and on a mark of 108 has claims of making the frame here.
When winning the Amethyst on just his third start of a very lightly-raced career to date, this son Choisir by a Galileo mare chased the leaders in fourth and soon took closer order approaching the straight. He then improved and was ridden on terms before the furlong marker and took it up well inside the last to assert near the finish.
Zibha has it prove in a rematch with Pincheck on those revised terms here and must also give 3lb to Threeandfourpence – a horse off level weights that he finished more than five lengths down on when eighth in the Irish 2000 Guineas. It’s going to be a challenge but, in the context of a massive ease in grade from that run, he has proved up to winning at this level already.
While being a course and distance winner is nothing unique in this line-up, Zibha is arguably the most unexposed horse in the Desmond. Bearing that in mind, he looks worth a bet to make the frame and is each-way value in a competitive looking renewal.Your Next Bet
