The last Saturday before Royal Ascot always seems to serve up some tricky handicaps to tempt punters into having a dabble before the serious betting starts on Tuesday. This year is no exception with York’s Charity Sprint Trophy a case in point. Can you believe it is possible to back any horse in the field at 10-1 or better?
In my preview article I picked out Moviesta, Vincentti and Lewisham as my three against the field. If you haven’t already placed a bet, you can get 10-1, 14-1 and 16-1 respectively. My advice would be to back anything you fancy now as York has a strong betting market and the favourite will probably be nearer 5-1 by the time the SP’s are returned.
In the 2.40 Westwiththenight is likely to go off favourite after finishing second to Gifted Girl at Ascot. Subsequent events reveal that she would have had to have been up to group class to beat that filly so it was no wonder she was left trailing by five lengths. Gifted Girl finished a fine second at Epsom and looks like a filly to follow.
The handicapper hasn’t done Westwiththenight any favours with 9st 10lb to carry and she may have a battle on her hands against the bottom weight Maven. This one has finished second twice at a mile and a quarter, running a little too freely for her own good on each occasion. She should settle better with a faster pace here and looks good each-way value.
The listed race at 3.15 is looking as competitive as the big sprint with the bookmakers going 4-1 the field with only eight runners. Plenty of people will be hoping that first time blinkers can persuade Stipulate to put his best foot forward for Lady Cecil whilst Questioning and Ladys First are bound to be in there battling.
It will be interesting to see how the two three-year-olds get on against their elders. Baltic Knight was trounced by Remote last time and if he boosts the form tomorrow you can expect Remote to be the shortest priced favourite in years for the Britannia Handicap. John Gosden usually has his string firing for Royal Ascot so I’m going to stick with Questioning.
Over at Sandown, Smoothtalkinrascal will have gone into more notebooks than Vinnie Jones after flashing home in second place in the Epsom Dash. He steps into listed class and is a warm favourite at around 2-1. My only reservation is that he doesn’t seem the kind of horse to win by far I’ll be hoping that his jockey can produce him at the right moment.
In the 2.20 there is bound to be plenty of support for Ashaadd who rather got Ryan Moore out of jail last time. He was held up behind horses off a slow pace but answered every call to get up close home and beat a useful sort in Homage. Moore can double up in the 4.05 on Defendant for Sir Michael Stoute. This one won his maiden impressively and can take advantage of the weight he receives from the slightly quirky but very talented Pythagorian.
York
Maven 8-1 Coral
Questioning 5-1 Ladbrokes
Sandown
Ashaadd 5-1 Ladbrokes
Smoothtalkinrascal 2-1 Coral
Defendant 9-2 Ladbrokes
