YOU can see why Lezoo has been all the rage all week for this afternoon’s Group 3 Bet365 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury.

There’s the Frankie Factor for starters, a factor that has been running through the entire year, and accentuated this week and this day, because it’s a first and only ride back for racing’s greatest proponent since his time out.

But there is also last year, Lezoo’s juvenile year, when the Zoustar filly looked pretty much unstoppable, winning four of her five races, and finishing second to Mawj in the other, the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.

She rounded off the season by winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, exacting her revenge on the Guineas winner.

The Guineas was worth the risk, but ultimately she came up short, which was forgivable. She was dropped back to six furlongs last time though for the Commonwealth Cup, and it just didn’t happen for her.

This is obviously a drop in grade, back into a Group 3 race, and it’s a sensible move, but she still has to bounce back now to her juvenile self, or at least close to her juvenile self.

Commanche Falls is different, twice Lezoo’s age, and in the form of his life now as a six-year-old.

Michael Dods’ horse has won the last two renewals of the Stewards’ Cup, and he proved worthy of his shot in group race company when he finished third in the Duke of York Stakes at York in May, before going to the Curragh on Irish Derby weekend and winning a listed race.

He is game and he is gutsy, he usually comes under a ride early enough but he finds lots for pressure, and it won’t be a surprise to see him running a big race.

Another chance

At the prices though, Rohaan is worth another chance. David Evans’ horse hasn’t finished higher than seventh in three runs this season, but he is a high-class performer at his best, and he ran much better at Ascot last time than the bare form of the run suggests.

The five-furlong trip of that handicap was on the sharp side for him, and that was accentuated by the fact that they didn’t go a strong pace early on.

In the end, he did well to quicken as well as he did off the pace, finishing off his race well on the near side to get to within three lengths of the winner The Big Board at the line.

He is better at Ascot than he is anywhere else, but he ran well in this race last year in finishing fourth behind Minzaal.

He looked a likely winner when he burst through out in the centre of the track, but his run just flattened out inside the final 100 yards and he only finished fourth in the end.

Adam Kirby is back on board now, he knows him well and he is an excellent hold-up jockey. His high draw in stall nine is probably a positive too, there should be good pace towards the near side with Cold Case in stall 12. You can see Rohaan travelling well into the race behind the pace and being delivered late.

Mettal UK Handicap

Nathanael Greene is the obvious favourite for the Mettal UK Handicap earlier in the day. William Haggas’ horse is a game and progressive stayer who probably improved for the step up to two miles for the first time last time in the Northumberland Plate.

He gets to race off the same mark today of 88, and the fact that his trainer is swapping his cheekpieces for blinkers could elicit further improvement.

But Apparate is more interesting at a bigger price. The Dubawi gelding was a capable performer for Roger Varian, putting up a career-best performance when he won the Mallard Handicap at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting in 2020 off a mark of 92.

He has obviously had his issues since, he only raced twice in 2021, and he didn’t race at all last year, but he proved that he retained lots of ability when he made his debut for Jamie Osborne in a one-and-a-half-mile handicap at Doncaster in early June.

Weak in the market that day, he came under a ride early in the home straight, but he stayed on gamely to go down by just a neck to a talented rival in Aimeric, the pair of them clear.

The handicapper raised him by just 3lb for that to a mark of 91, which is 1lb lower than the mark off which he won the Mallard, and 4lb lower than his peak, and that gives him a chance. He should be happier too over today’s longer trip.

He is obviously risky, there is a chance that he will ‘bounce’, but he has had a nice break since his return, and that worry is more than factored into his odds. He was only just beaten in a novice stakes on his only run to date at Newbury, and it could be worthwhile chancing him at the price.

Apparate, 2.25 Newbury, 16/1

(generally), 1 point each-way

Rohaan, 3.00 Newbury, 7/1

(generally), 1 point win