1.55 York – Sky Bet First Race Special Stakes (Handicap)
This looks like a pretty trappy affair to open proceedings and there isn’t really a standout in the field. Barsanti arguably has the best form on offer having finished placed in a pair of Listed events on his last two starts. However, that form has taken a few knocks and looks like rather average company on paper. If you go back three starts, he proved to be a warm order in the Jorvik Stakes over course and distance and on the basis of that run, a 9lb higher mark here doesn’t look insurmountable. It will be no easy task conceding weight all round here though and the suspicion is that he may well be better over further than 1m4f.
Mark Johnston has landed two of the last nine runnings of this contest and enters this year’s race double handed. Stars Over The Sea looks to be the first string on jockey bookings with Joe Fanning in the plate and arrives here in good form having sluiced up at Pontefract earlier this month. That was his second win of the campaign following a victory at Newbury in July with a fine third-place effort at Glorious Goodwood sandwiched in between. He has been hit with a 7lb rise for his latest success which puts him on a career-high mark but he is clearly thriving at present and would be folly to dismiss.
His stablemate Yorkidding is another in fine fettle but does need to bounce back from a below-par display in a Listed race in Germany last time. Prior to that, she landed a quick-fire double over course and distance and at Ascot and seems to once again have her conditions here as she is right at home racing on top of the ground. She also has a career-high mark to contend with but with conditions perfect at a track that she has a very good record on, she certainly enters the equation.
Johnston’s filly isn’t the only one with something to prove on the back of a disappointing run last time out and Shakopee was never involved when sent off as co-favourite at Goodwood last month. In truth, he didn’t really have a chance in a race where those up with the pace dominated throughout and wasn’t given a particularly hard time by Jamie Spencer once the race principals had got first run. He steps up to 1m4f for the first time here but the way he stayed on to win over an extended 1m2f at Doncaster on his penultimate start suggests that it shouldn’t be an issue and being out of a 1m6f winner, his breeding looks to lend itself to a step up in trip as well. He is still a fairly unexposed four-year-old but wouldn’t want to get caught too far back in another competitive big-field handicap here.
Sindarban has a similar profile having had only 6 runs on the level. The five-year-old has looked a different horse since joining Keith Dalgleish this year and built on his Hamilton maiden win in May with a fine performance to land the Cumberland Plate next time out. He was well backed ahead of the Ripon Bell-Ringer Handicap on his next start, being sent off the 11/4 favourite, but looked to have every chance until fading into eighth late on. He may not be done improving but could well be in the handicapper’s grip at present.
With question marks levied against most of the runners, a flyer is taken on MOONMEISTER who could have significant upside off a featherweight of 8st 1lb. Hailing from the shrewd Tony Martin stable, he arrives here having finished a close up sixth in the Guinness Handicap at the Galway Festival on ground that will likely have proven much softer than ideal. He gets in here off the same mark and although his form figures don’t immediately jump out at you, he is only 2lb higher than when scoring in a Dundalk handicap last November. Franny Norton takes the ride here which speaks volumes when you consider that he only partnered one Tony Martin horse the whole of last season, when Heartbreak City hosed up at this meeting last year. With the better ground promising to suit, he is well worth taking an each-way chance on.
MY Advice
MOONMEISTER – 1pt e/w @ 7/1 (Boylesports)
2.30 York – Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup (Group 2)
Seven go to post for this year’s Lonsdale Cup and it looks as competitive a contest as ever, even if it does seem to lack that stayer with star quality as this race has sometimes attracted. Peter Niven’s Clever Cookie heads the market at 3/1 and on his best form; he’d certainly hold every chance in a field of fairly familiar rivals. He loves it here at York and has already got four course wins to his name, three over a mile and six furlongs, so track and trip shouldn’t be an issue. The more concerning issue is if the ground stays fast as expected, whether he has enough pace and speed to keep his head in front of some of these. He’s a real grinder who already has a Group 2 Yorkshire Cup to his name this season and he’s certainly entitled to be there or thereabouts, just as he was when fourth in last year’s renewal, as long as the ground isn’t too fast.
TRIP TO PARIS finished one place behind Niven’s runner last year, but was clearly feeling the effects of the seven runs he’d already had that season as he weakened out of contention. This season is a totally different preparation, with just one run (third over ten furlongs at Newbury in a Listed race) to his name in 2016. He’ll be fresh and well here and goes into the race with a huge chance on his best form – he’s top rated with 3lbs in hand of these on official ratings, enjoys quick ground and should find York’s two miles right up his street. Considering he was ‘underdone’ for his reappearance, he ran a cracker to finish third behind Scottish over an inadequate trip and should have come on plenty for that seeing as it was his first run in over seven months after his trip to Australia and the Far East. To me, he’s the one to beat.
Another who will definitely enjoy a fast surface is the Roger Charlton-trained Quest For More as he is one in the race with a decent turn of foot. This trip may well be a couple of furlongs longer than his optimum, but if he can travel into the race well and make his challenge a little later and a little less wide than he did at Goodwood when he was sixth in the Goodwood Cup last time out, he could certainly play a part in the finish. However, he climbed his way up the handicapping ladder in sensational fashion last season and although he does look worth his place in this company, he hasn’t tasted success in anything above a Class 2 race, so victory could be asking too much of the six-year-old.
After finishing in front of Quest For More and just being denied in the Goodwood Cup, Sir Mark Prescott’s Pallasator goes into this race with a massive chance. He’s a horse that his trainer has always been adamant is better with some cut in the ground, yet his best runs and most of his wins have come on good or firmer. He’s definitely effective over this trip and on fast ground from everything I’ve seen so far, so on the form he’s showed this season and in this sort of event previously, he should have a great chance of winning his second Group contest of the year after comfortably disposing of Suegioo (the outsider of this field) in the Group 3 Henry II Stakes on good to firm ground at Sandown Park in May. He’s always liable to boil over a little before the race though so he’ll have to keep his temperament under wraps if he’s to do himself justice here.
Curbyourenthusiasm would be a surprise winner for me – the trip is a big worry, even though he ran a good race behind Clever Cookie here in the Yorkshire Cup in May, as his only attempt at two miles so far left him tailed off behind a few of these in the Goodwood Cup. However, he will like the ground and will be given every chance to get the trip with a classic canny Jamie Spencer ride, but I’m not sure he’s quite good enough.
Willie Mullins won this last season with Max Dynamite and he sends over his smart multi-discipline horse Wicklow Brave for a crack at this season’s prize. He was a three and a half-length fourth to Big Orange in the Goodwood Cup, a couple of lengths behind Pallasator, and while he probably does have a bit of work to do to overturn that form, he’s been very consistent in Group races over at least a mile and a half in the past year or more and deserves to win a pot like this. However, Mullins has already been clear that his end goal is to go to the Melbourne Cup, so even though he’s a viable each-way bet at the prices, I’d rather be looking at a horse that had been trained for this race all along.
MY Advice
TRIP TO PARIS – 1pt win @ 3/1 (bet365, Paddy Power)
This looks like a pretty trappy affair to open proceedings and there isn’t really a standout in the field. Barsanti arguably has the best form on offer having finished placed in a pair of Listed events on his last two starts. However, that form has taken a few knocks and looks like rather average company on paper. If you go back three starts, he proved to be a warm order in the Jorvik Stakes over course and distance and on the basis of that run, a 9lb higher mark here doesn’t look insurmountable. It will be no easy task conceding weight all round here though and the suspicion is that he may well be better over further than 1m4f.
Mark Johnston has landed two of the last nine runnings of this contest and enters this year’s race double handed. Stars Over The Sea looks to be the first string on jockey bookings with Joe Fanning in the plate and arrives here in good form having sluiced up at Pontefract earlier this month. That was his second win of the campaign following a victory at Newbury in July with a fine third-place effort at Glorious Goodwood sandwiched in between. He has been hit with a 7lb rise for his latest success which puts him on a career-high mark but he is clearly thriving at present and would be folly to dismiss.
His stablemate Yorkidding is another in fine fettle but does need to bounce back from a below-par display in a Listed race in Germany last time. Prior to that, she landed a quick-fire double over course and distance and at Ascot and seems to once again have her conditions here as she is right at home racing on top of the ground. She also has a career-high mark to contend with but with conditions perfect at a track that she has a very good record on, she certainly enters the equation.
Johnston’s filly isn’t the only one with something to prove on the back of a disappointing run last time out and Shakopee was never involved when sent off as co-favourite at Goodwood last month. In truth, he didn’t really have a chance in a race where those up with the pace dominated throughout and wasn’t given a particularly hard time by Jamie Spencer once the race principals had got first run. He steps up to 1m4f for the first time here but the way he stayed on to win over an extended 1m2f at Doncaster on his penultimate start suggests that it shouldn’t be an issue and being out of a 1m6f winner, his breeding looks to lend itself to a step up in trip as well. He is still a fairly unexposed four-year-old but wouldn’t want to get caught too far back in another competitive big-field handicap here.
Sindarban has a similar profile having had only 6 runs on the level. The five-year-old has looked a different horse since joining Keith Dalgleish this year and built on his Hamilton maiden win in May with a fine performance to land the Cumberland Plate next time out. He was well backed ahead of the Ripon Bell-Ringer Handicap on his next start, being sent off the 11/4 favourite, but looked to have every chance until fading into eighth late on. He may not be done improving but could well be in the handicapper’s grip at present.
With question marks levied against most of the runners, a flyer is taken on MOONMEISTER who could have significant upside off a featherweight of 8st 1lb. Hailing from the shrewd Tony Martin stable, he arrives here having finished a close up sixth in the Guinness Handicap at the Galway Festival on ground that will likely have proven much softer than ideal. He gets in here off the same mark and although his form figures don’t immediately jump out at you, he is only 2lb higher than when scoring in a Dundalk handicap last November. Franny Norton takes the ride here which speaks volumes when you consider that he only partnered one Tony Martin horse the whole of last season, when Heartbreak City hosed up at this meeting last year. With the better ground promising to suit, he is well worth taking an each-way chance on.
MY Advice
MOONMEISTER – 1pt e/w @ 7/1 (Boylesports)
2.30 York – Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup (Group 2)
Seven go to post for this year’s Lonsdale Cup and it looks as competitive a contest as ever, even if it does seem to lack that stayer with star quality as this race has sometimes attracted. Peter Niven’s Clever Cookie heads the market at 3/1 and on his best form; he’d certainly hold every chance in a field of fairly familiar rivals. He loves it here at York and has already got four course wins to his name, three over a mile and six furlongs, so track and trip shouldn’t be an issue. The more concerning issue is if the ground stays fast as expected, whether he has enough pace and speed to keep his head in front of some of these. He’s a real grinder who already has a Group 2 Yorkshire Cup to his name this season and he’s certainly entitled to be there or thereabouts, just as he was when fourth in last year’s renewal, as long as the ground isn’t too fast.
TRIP TO PARIS finished one place behind Niven’s runner last year, but was clearly feeling the effects of the seven runs he’d already had that season as he weakened out of contention. This season is a totally different preparation, with just one run (third over ten furlongs at Newbury in a Listed race) to his name in 2016. He’ll be fresh and well here and goes into the race with a huge chance on his best form – he’s top rated with 3lbs in hand of these on official ratings, enjoys quick ground and should find York’s two miles right up his street. Considering he was ‘underdone’ for his reappearance, he ran a cracker to finish third behind Scottish over an inadequate trip and should have come on plenty for that seeing as it was his first run in over seven months after his trip to Australia and the Far East. To me, he’s the one to beat.
Another who will definitely enjoy a fast surface is the Roger Charlton-trained Quest For More as he is one in the race with a decent turn of foot. This trip may well be a couple of furlongs longer than his optimum, but if he can travel into the race well and make his challenge a little later and a little less wide than he did at Goodwood when he was sixth in the Goodwood Cup last time out, he could certainly play a part in the finish. However, he climbed his way up the handicapping ladder in sensational fashion last season and although he does look worth his place in this company, he hasn’t tasted success in anything above a Class 2 race, so victory could be asking too much of the six-year-old.
After finishing in front of Quest For More and just being denied in the Goodwood Cup, Sir Mark Prescott’s Pallasator goes into this race with a massive chance. He’s a horse that his trainer has always been adamant is better with some cut in the ground, yet his best runs and most of his wins have come on good or firmer. He’s definitely effective over this trip and on fast ground from everything I’ve seen so far, so on the form he’s showed this season and in this sort of event previously, he should have a great chance of winning his second Group contest of the year after comfortably disposing of Suegioo (the outsider of this field) in the Group 3 Henry II Stakes on good to firm ground at Sandown Park in May. He’s always liable to boil over a little before the race though so he’ll have to keep his temperament under wraps if he’s to do himself justice here.
Curbyourenthusiasm would be a surprise winner for me – the trip is a big worry, even though he ran a good race behind Clever Cookie here in the Yorkshire Cup in May, as his only attempt at two miles so far left him tailed off behind a few of these in the Goodwood Cup. However, he will like the ground and will be given every chance to get the trip with a classic canny Jamie Spencer ride, but I’m not sure he’s quite good enough.
Willie Mullins won this last season with Max Dynamite and he sends over his smart multi-discipline horse Wicklow Brave for a crack at this season’s prize. He was a three and a half-length fourth to Big Orange in the Goodwood Cup, a couple of lengths behind Pallasator, and while he probably does have a bit of work to do to overturn that form, he’s been very consistent in Group races over at least a mile and a half in the past year or more and deserves to win a pot like this. However, Mullins has already been clear that his end goal is to go to the Melbourne Cup, so even though he’s a viable each-way bet at the prices, I’d rather be looking at a horse that had been trained for this race all along.
MY Advice
TRIP TO PARIS – 1pt win @ 3/1 (bet365, Paddy Power)
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