Favourite Moon set for Newmarket return in Cesarewitch

William Durkan would like to see some rain at  Newmarket  ahead of Favourite Moon’s appearance in the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch on Saturday.

Ireland have taken home the trophy in three of the last four years courtesy of a Willie Mullins-trained hat-trick of winners and now the son of Sea The Moon looks ideally placed to enhance the Irish raiders’ record in the race, especially if there is ease in the going at HQ.

The five-year-old won two Haydock handicaps on soft ground when trained by William Haggas and also picked up a Group Three down under at Rosehill with cut in the ground while in the care of the Somerville Lodge handler.

Since switching to Durkan he has run just the four times, but showed he retained plenty of his old zest when bolting up in a Downpatrick maiden hurdle last month.

“The horse will run, but he wouldn’t like top of the ground,” said Durkan.

“They’ve had some rain, but I hope they have more rain. If it’s on the soft side we would be thinking he has a real good chance, he’s in good form.

“We’ve been thinking about this race for a while, we thought it might suit him.”

A total of 35 horses were left in at the confirmation stage, with a maximum field of 34 possible.

Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Cesarewitch winner Waterville is among them while stablemate Wordsworth is at the head of the weights.

David Pipe’s Adagio is a strong ante-post fancy but also holds an entry in Sunday’s Welsh Champion Hurdle while Nicky Henderson has booked William Buick for Ahorsewithnoname.