Aspire To Glory heads to Southwell for the Class 6 Classified Stakes over a mile (17:30) this evening as he looks to land back-to-back victories.

Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and Aspire To Glory's lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).

Raceday LIVE Preview


After the race, Kieran was full of praise for our four-year-old gelding, telling Jason Weaver live on Sky Sports Racing about how much ability Aspire To Glory had even as a two-year-old and three-year-old, but frustratingly he just hasn't been able to put his best foot forward on the racetrack on enough occasions so far.

Kieran has ridden Aspire To Glory in plenty of his work at home as he rides a lot for trainer Alice Haynes, so it was fantastic to see the pair team up and gain their first win together with both of Aspire To Glory's previous two wins coming with Tommie Jakes in the saddle.


Aspire To Glory's owners for the day in the Winners' Enclosure at Wolverhampton

He broke his duck back in December 2023 at the eighth time of asking, and what's interesting is he followed that up with another victory in his next start just four weeks later, so fingers crossed he can turn up in the same vein of form this evening and go close once more.

With today's contest being a Classified race, it essentially means that despite each horse's handicap rating, they should all run off the same weight, but unfortunately for Aspire To Glory, he has to carry a 6lb penalty for his win last week, which will certainly make life more difficult. However, he might still find himself well off in comparison to some of his opposition today, given his mark is set to go up following his victory last week, when the handicapper adjusts his rating today. 

Aspire To Glory has a slightly more advantageous draw today, coming out of stall 7, and if he breaks in a similar fashion to the way he did last week, our four-year-old could find himself in a prominent position early in the race. The going, as ever on the all-weather, is listed as being Standard, and shouldn't provide anything new for Aspire To Glory, on a surface that he has raced on frequently throughout his career.

WATCH: Raceday update from trainer Alice Haynes

Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, gives us his thoughts on Aspire To Glory and his competition in this evening's contest

After gaining his first win in over a year at Wolverhampton last week, Aspire To Glory looks to follow up over a similar distance at Southwell. Well positioned close to the pace in a race where they didn’t overdo things in front, Aspire To Glory travelled kindly and won comfortably enough at Wolverhampton, producing a performance that suggests he can win more races at a low level.

He gained back-to-back victories last winter and has been holding his form well of late, so a similar performance can be expected and that should put him in the mix, though with a penalty to carry for that win will leave him slightly wrong at the weights with his opponents. That’s a slight concern, though I’m more concerned about the switch to this more galloping track over a mile in what looks likely to be a well-run race. He seems to me like a horse who’s happiest around a mile at a sharp track or 7f on a more galloping track such as Southwell, with races over this course and distance often beginning to develop further out than would perhaps be ideal for Aspire To Glory. That said, he does stay and he does have form at the track.

With a strong pace on the cards Fifty Sent may well relax better than has often been the case and that could result in an improved effort. His form when third over course and distance last time was boosted by the fourth Fistral Beach winning at the weekend. Mr Slicker is another that would appreciate a strong tempo and looks capable of making an impact at this level still, while Ravenglass is another that looks likely to be seen to good advantage and is up to winning a race like this.

Trainer and Jockey Statistics

Alice Haynes has been in solid form recently, winning with three horses out of eleven runners in the last fortnight, with the most recent being Aspire To Glory a week ago. She's had 12 winners at Southwell in her career, from 119 runners, and a further 22 have finished in the places, of which three have been this year.  

Kieran O'Neill's sole victory in the last two weeks was onboard Aspire To Glory last week, although his only rides since that night at Wolverhampton were yesterday at the same venue. Two of his four winners this year have been for Alice Haynes, and in total he's had 102 for the Newmarket based trainer.

Aspire To Glory's Owners for the Day

As winners of the recent Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Aspire To Glory's run at Southwell this evening.

What's included in an Owner for the Day prize?

 

• Free racecourse entry
• Access to the Owners & Trainers enclosure
• Access to the Parade Ring before the race
• Meet Aspire To Glory and the Alice Haynes team
• Take home a 10% share of any prize money he wins

Prize Money

Today's Class 6 contest is worth £6,000 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,140 for their lucky owners.

2nd: £1,473 | 3rd: £736 | 4th: £368 | 5th: £183


Get paid as a WINNER in CASH up to a stake of £/€10 if your horse finishes 2nd by a head or less behind the winner in today's 17:30 at Southwell – click here to find out more.
 
     SOUTHWELL 17:30 – LATEST ODDS     

We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 17:30 to watch Aspire To Glory's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.