Racing chat-friday 25th August (york day 3)

[richard-westwood]

Nunthorpe fully rated 

Highfield princess 9.0 13/8 

Regional      8.7 

Bit of a funny one this race as I have a 10pt  ew ante post bet on Regional at 16/1  as I really fancied it for this race a few weeks ago then it was tipped up on sporting life for same reasons I liked so I jumped on 

Overall though Highfield princess has the form and fitness advantage so us the most likely winner....Regional is coming off a 70 day layoff which could be good(freshened up ready )....or bad (not fit enough for this level) ......but in his favour  he is improving rapidly just in time for the race with possibly more to come .....I could edge my bets on fav but I'm happy to take a chance at odds I got and just stick with Regional....  I still think he's value though at 10/1 ....that's still too big imo ....classy race 

*edit ....and now been drawn right next to each other in ideal 6 and 7 so that's made the race even more interesting 😀 

Edited August 23, 2023 by richard-westwood

[The Brigadier]

York 1.50

Todays fayre kicks off with a fifteen runner 1m 4F Heritage Handicap run over 1M 4F. Ralph Beckett is having a stellar season and his three year old Balance Play can complete a hat trick of victories following success’s at Chester and Goodwood rising some 12lb in the weights. He still looks some way ahead of his mark and stepping up a furlong today looks sure to suit. Hector Crouch has ridden the chestnut on both of his wins and retains the ride today in which the Fahey horse Wootton’Sun can also run well.

 

BALANCE PLAY 1 point win @ 4/1 Betfred

 

York 2.25

Just seven line up for the 2M 56 yard Group 2 Lonsdale Cup which features five that ran in the Goodwood Cup where Hughie Morrison’s stable star Quickthorn ran them ragged. He did the same in this race last year winning by 14 lengths but you would think that the other jockeys will be very much on alert this time around not to give him too much rope. Andrew Balding’s Coltrane is ultra consistent having finished runner up in the Ascot Gold Cup over half a mile further to the re-opposing Courage Mon Ami, beaten just 3/4L and is today 4lb better off. He looks sure to run his race and he’s a tentative pick.

 

COLTRANE 1 point win @ 11/4 William Hill

 

York 3.00

The Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes for two year old colts and geldings features ten promising sprinting juveniles with no stand out pick. There is question marks against a few of the leading ones in the market here and it maybe worth taking a chance on the once raced maiden winner King’s Gamble trained by the very much in form Ralph Beckett. A son of Kingman he ran out a cosy winner of a Newmarket novice stakes on his debut earlier this month and although this is a big step up he can repay an each way wager by hitting the frame at least.

 

KING’S GAMBLE 1 point each way @ 9/1 BetVictor 1/5th 123

 

York 3.35

A great renewal of the Group One Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes, run over the minimum trip of 5F. The two year old Big Evs is a very interesting runner getting so much weight from all and it will be no shock were he to run a big race here. The pick though has to be John Quinn’s super mare Highfield Princess who took this field apart last year coming home 2 1/2L to the good from last year’s two year old The Platinum Queen. She looked as good as ever when blitzing her field in the King George Stakes at Goodwood and will be very hard to beat here.

 

HIGHFIELD PRINCESS 3 points win @ 6/4 bet365

 

York 4.10

A valuable 12 1/2F fillies handicap is next up with last year’s runner up Amanzoe heading the weights although she hasn’t been seen since but is not without claims. Owen Burrows is having an excellent season and can take this tricky contest with his three year old Rowayeh who takes a step up two furlongs to a mile and a quarter today for the first time. She’s very much a Shadwell horse on breeding and there’s no reason to think she won’t stay this far on that score. A dual winner earlier in the season she wasn’t disgraced when third in a valuable Goodwood handicap at the beginning of the month, form which has already been boosted by the runner up Novus winning since.

 

ROWAYEH 1 point win @ 11/4 bet365

 

York 4.45

The most valuable maiden run this year is the Convivial maiden which sees fifteen promising two year old’s assemble over 7F. Six of the fifteen are debutants and worth monitoring in the market but the pick here is Ollie Sangster’s Kings Valley who showed up really well on his racecourse debut when third to the subsequent listed winner Arabian Crown, beaten 3L at Sandown. The son of Territories was very green that day and with that run under his belt can go close today as long as his draw on the wing in stall 14 is not an inconvenience.

 

KINGS VALLEY 1 point win @ 7/2 bet365

 

 

York 5.15

Day three’s card finishes with a twelve runner 1M three year old handicap featuring a dozen horses. The most unexposed horse and one that’s worth giving a chance to is the Roger Varian trained Enfjaar. He looked another Shadwell owned horse of immense potential when bolting up at Chelmsford on the all-weather back in May, coming home 6L to the good from his ten rivals. He took a step up in grade a month later when running in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes dropping in trip to 7F. that may have been his undoing when only finishing a slightly disappointing eleventh of 15 (beaten 9 1/4L). Back to a mile and in a handicap for the first time, this Lope De Vega colt can get himself back into the winners enclosure under David Egan who replaces the suspended Jim Crowley.

 

ENFJAAR 1 point win @ 4/1 bet365