Custon Cut heads to Newmarket for O'Meara

The North Yorkshire trainer has enjoyed a tremendous year and a fantastic month of September which has yielded a Group 1 win with G Force, an Ayr Gold Cup victory with Louis The Pious and a major handicap success at the Curragh with Watchable.

Custom Cut now has the opportunity to add his name to O'Meara's September roll of honour. The five-year-old has already enjoyed an excellent campaign. He won at Windsor, Pontefract and Leopardstown before his latest Knavesmire success, which confirmed his class and courage.

The Shadwell Joel Stakes, which has Group 2 status, is the target for Custom Cut this afternoon. It is a tough race, which also contains his stablemate Penitent, winner of this contest in 2012, but Custom Cut is taking all before him at the moment and he can cope with this latest climb up the ladder.

The Shadwell Rockfel Stakes, the joint feature race on the card, sees the British debut of Lucida, who has made a sizeable impact in her native Ireland this season.

Jim Bolger's filly, a winner on her debut, has since finished runner-up in a Group 1 and a Group 1 race, the latter when she chased home the top-class Cursory Glance in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh.

Lucida boasts the best form of the runners on display in this Group 2 contest. She should be hard to beat under Kevin Manning.

In the Mawatheeq Godolphin Stakes, Windshear holds strong claims. Richard Hannon's colt has frustrastingly found winning difficult this season, but he has turned-in a sequence of useful efforts in defeat, not least at Doncaster earlier this month when he finished fourth to Kingston Hill in the St Leger.

Provided he can repeat that performance - he has had some tough races in recent months - Windshear will be a tough nut to crack, dropping down from Group 1 company to Listed class here.

Sir Michael Stoute, pictured, can enjoy a lucrative afternoon on his local track. He can win with the progressive Provenance (1.40) and easy Brighton winner Long View (2.10), who ha something to find on figures now she's into Listed company but who is contesting a race which Stoute won last year with Astonishing.

At Haydock, Excilly is napped to win the first division of the Irish Stallion Farms Vale UK Maiden Fillies' Stakes.

Highly rated by trainer Tom Dascombe, Excilly was sent off the 13-8 favourite to make a winning debut on this course in mid-July, but she failed by only a head to beat the useful and more experienced Mattmu.

Excilly has not been seen since that debut, which was ten weeks ago. But Dascombe would hardly be running her if she wasn't giving all the right signals. She is selected to go one better under Richard Kingscote.

Kingscote can also win the second leg of this race on Ed Walker's Goodnightsuzy, who created a good impression when finishing fourth on this course on her debut three weeks ago. She will have benefited from that outing.

Showing Character is another Kingscote mount in the Bryn Nursery Handicap.

Winner of his first two starts at Chester in June and July, Showing Character was giving all the right signs to enjoy a successful rise into Pattern race company. He then had a break, however, and he finished last of ten on his reappearance in Listed company at York last month.

Showing Character now makes his handicap debut off a mark of 99. Provided you can forgive him his Knavesmire performance. he makes appeal.

Pearl Nation (4.10), a winner on this course three weeks ago, and Kashmiri Sunset (4.45), whose latest fourth-placed efforts here and at York deserve credit, are two others to note.

Newmarket today

1.40 Provenance, 2.10 Long View, 2.40 Lucida, 3.15 Custom Cut, 3.45 Windshear, 4.25 Hathal, 5.00 Gm Hopkins, 5.30 Inspector Norse.

Haydock today

1.30 Hallbeck, 2.00 Excilly (NAP), 2.30 Goodnightsuzy, 3.00 Fannaan, 3.35 Showing Character, 4.10 Pearl Nation, 4.45 Kashmiri Sunset, 5.20 Hallingham.

Today's other meetings

Wolverhampton and Worcester.

Tomorrow's meetings

Chester, Haydock, Market rasen, Newmarket, Ripon and Wolverhampton.