AAIM To Prosper had two a’s in his name and, famously, he won the Cesarewitch the same number of times.

He is the only horse to date who has done so.

Brian Meehan’s horse didn’t land back-to-back renewals mind you. He won it for the first time in 2010, and he didn’t win another race until he won it for the second time in 2012. He spent 2011 competing in listed races and in group races, he went zero for 11 between Cesarewitches without the handicapper seeing any need to show too much leniency.

Rated 87 when he won his first, with Louis Beuzelin’s claim taking his total weight carried down to 7st 13lb, he was rated 107 when he lined up again at Newmarket’s two-and-a-quarter-mile start, which probably explains why he was allowed go off at 66/1, despite the fact that Kieren Fallon was on board.

The race was first run in 1839, and no other horse has won it twice. And no horse has won back-to-back renewals. That’s a 187-year streak that Beylerbeyi is bidding to break today.

There is a real chance that he will break it too. The market expects. He won well last year, and you can be sure that his trainer Ian Williams has had at least one eye on a repeat bid for a while.

The Invincible Spirit gelding hasn’t been skulking along in the darkness in the meantime though. On the contrary, he has run 10 times in broad daylight in the last 12 months. He hasn’t won since, but he was a little unlucky in a heritage handicap at Newmarket in July, and he ran a big race in the Ebor in August to finish fifth, staying on well at the end of the one mile and six furlongs and, last time, he ran Sunday’s Prix du Cadran winner Caballo De Mar to just over a length in the Group 2 Doncaster Cup.

There is a chance that he will just out-class his rivals today, but he is off a mark of 101, he is 10lb higher than he was last year, even if he is 2lb well-in, and he is short.

Well supported

Dawn Rising has been well supported all week, and you can be sure that this has been on his radar for a while too. J.P. McManus’ horse is nine now, but he was eight when he got to within just over a length of Beylerbeyi last year, and he gets to race off the same mark today.

He is 10lb better off with last year’s winner for a beating of a length and a quarter. And he is trained by Joseph O’Brien and will be ridden by Ryan Moore. He has to be on your shortlist, but he is a short price too.

Sea Lantern has the scope to be anything, and he is 4lb well-in under his 4lb penalty for winning by four lengths last time at Pontefract. (Or four and a half lengths.) That was his fourth run. The concern centres around whether or not he will have the experience to be able to cope with the hurly burly of a Cesarewitch.

Alphonse Le Grande is off the same mark as the mark off which he won the race two years ago, then lost it, then won it again, and that doesn’t qualify as two wins, but if he won it today it would. He would emulate Aaim To Prosper in winning the race, then losing it a year later, then winning it again a year after that, and his trainer Tony Martin has already won the Colm Quinn BMW Galway Mile and the Northfields Handicap this year with Orandi, as well as the Galway Hurdle.

Cock And Bull stayed on well to win a two-mile handicap at the Galway Festival last time with he and Wahraan coming clear of their rivals. Emmet Mullins’ horse is interesting, but a 10lb hike was not lenient.

The handicapper hasn’t been especially lenient on Reverend Hubert either. Charles Byrnes sent the Zoffany gelding out to win the Cesarewitch Trial last year and to finish fifth in the race itself, when he was sent off as favourite. He has over six lengths to make up with Beylerbeyi on last year’s running, and he is actually 2lb worse off, but he goes into the race in good form, he has won three of his last four races under all codes, and we know that he can operate over the course and distance.

Finding value

But everything into the mix, and Mountain Road could be the value of the race. Jim Goldie’s horse is seven now, but he is relatively lightly raced for his age. A winner over two miles on his final run for David Simcock, he missed all of last season, but he won a good two-mile handicap at Thirsk at the end of May on his fourth run this season, and he has shown even better form in each of his two runs since then.

He finished third behind Dancing In Paris in the Shergar Cup Stayers on his penultimate run, when he finished off his race well from the rear in a race that was not strongly run. He was still last with three furlongs to run, and he was the only one who could get into the race from the back. The four horses who, with him, filled the first five places, all raced prominently from early.

He stepped forward again last time, when he finished second behind Small Fry in a two-mile handicap at York. Small Fry is a highly talented and progressive horse of Joseph O’Brien’s who is on track for the Melbourne Cup, and Mountain Road got to within a length of him, while pulling clear of his other rivals. He was the only horse who was held up who managed to reach the first six.

The fifth-placed horse from that race, Manxman, came out and won a small-field handicap next time off the same mark by 14 lengths, while seventh-placed Valedictory won the Mallard Handicap at Doncaster next time. They both re-oppose today, under 4lb penalties, as does sixth-placed Kirchner, off the same mark.

A 4lb hike for Mountain Road was not overly harsh. He should come on for his York run, he should improve for the slight step up in trip, and, while he has never run on the Rowley Mile, his three runs on the July Course have all been good.

And Paul Mulrennan’s record on him reads 4351.

Sky Bet Sprint Trophy

A little earlier in the day, Pellitory could be the answer to the Sky Bet Sprint Trophy.

David O’Meara’s horse didn’t have a whole lot of luck in-running in the Challenge Cup at Ascot last Saturday. He and the winner Mezcala went for the same gap two furlongs out. He had to cede first run to Jack Channon’s horse, but he kept on well once into the clear.

He is better known as a seven-furlong horse, but he proved that he could operate over six, at least in testing conditions, when he won the Ayr Gold Cup three weeks ago. He was raised by 6lb for that win, but he proved that he was well able for today’s mark of 104 in the Challenge Cup.

He has never won at York, but his three runs there have all been good, including his most recent run there in July, when he went down by just a head to Northern Express in a seven-furlong handicap.

He has raced just four times over six furlongs, there could be more to come from him at the trip, and his draw in stall three is probably a positive. That is generally the way at York, and, in the straight-track races there yesterday, the low numbers had the edge.

Recommended

Pellitory 3.17 York - 1 point e/w @ 9/1 (generally)

Mountain Road 3.40 Newmarket - 1 point e/w @ 11/1 (William Hill) or 10/1 (generally)