JUST STAY IT AGAIN SAM!

Paul Jacobs relishes a grand October climax with final Flat season flourish

- Paul Jacobs

October is probably my favourite month of the racing year with the two ends of the betting spectrum on showthe second leg of the autumn double (Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap) through to the Group 1 Prix Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.

Add in the big back end Ascot Champions Day and the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket and you have an outstanding month of Flat racing before the jumpers begin to creep onto the racing stage.

I am writing this piece on Saturday September 14, so having the future eye of an oracle is needed to try and suggest a selection or three for several of these ante-post races. Tomorrow will see the Arc Trials in Paris with the Vermeille and the Niel the most pertinent.

However, the history of the latter race tells us that the result will not be the be-all-and-end-all as far as the big race is concerned as the three leading players; Look De Vega, Delius and Sosie have all been absent from the track for at least two months with the first named having his first run for 101 days.

All three trainers are sure to have their charges race fit, but not 100per cent ready for the big day; so do not take the result of this race as gospel for the main event on October 6.

The Cesarewitch (October 12) has always been a favourite ante-post betting event from the moment, by hook or by crook, I managed to find the winner of the 1983 renewal when backing the dual purpose charge Bajan Sunshine at 25/1 ante-post (SP of 7/1 joint favourite). Since then Aaim To Prosper (66/1) was my biggest fluke win in 2010 in a period which hailed the hot run of form of National Hunt horses kick started by Nicky Henderson and carried forward by the mighty Willie Mullins and that despite the fact that the Irish version is worth a whole lot more in terms of prize money.