York 14/6/08

[fintron]

2.15 Lady amateurs handicap to open the card here so hard to tell just how good some of these jockeys are. Jeer's jockey seems okay to be fair, she won at Doncaster and came second on her last ride at Hamilton. Jeer himself looks an alright betting proposition - he's not proven over the distance so for that reason I'll be keeping stakes small, but he's proven on firm ground, has a progressive profile and comes into the race in good form after two good runs down at Newmarket. As the second highest rated horse in the field he warrants respect. Sporting Life forecast 5/1. 2.50 Nothing much I like in here. For the sake of picking one I'd tentatively put up Re Barolo. Marco Botti's horse was quite well fancied for the Zetland Gold Cup (I remember a few recommended it in the RP) at Redcar when last seen but disappointed. His best form to date has been on the all-weather but he's lighly raced so there could potentially be more to come. Being by Cape Cross he should act on firm ground. 3.25 Stick a pin in the racecard for this one. Ultra-competitive for a decent amount of prize money and many have claims. Ancien Regime heads the market after winning at Newmarket last time out but may not be as handily drawm as Van Bossed, who is drawn ideally in stall 2. The latter is one of Dandy Nicholls' so must be respected in this type of race. He's won on firm ground and the trip poses no problems. He's up in class here though, which probably explains his forecast price at 10/1. Fathsta won here the other month and his draw is okay in stall 5. He's dropping back into handicap company after having a crack at a listed race at Epsom when last seen, and will go on the ground. He's forecast 10/1 too. 4.00 Maybe Military Power for this one - forecast 8/1. It will get the distance - as his last win at Redcar proved, and firm ground will be okay for it. Runs off the same handicap mark as last time, even though it won by 3 lengths, but it jumps up from class 5 to class 2 here so its only a tentative pick. 4.30 Oasis On Island would be my pick on the basis that trainer Bryan Smart does very well with his two year olds. However, it is drawn wide which isn't ideal for a 6f sprint. It makes more appeal on breeding than most as its a half-brother to numerous winners from around this distance and sire Oasis Dream won twice over this distance at two, both on good-firm ground. Forecast 7/1. 5.05 Don't like much here to be honest but maybe Hotham can finally get his head infront after a string of placed efforts. He's entitled to have come on for a run at Haydock on his reappearance last month, favours fast ground, and should be okay with the trip. Forecast 14/1. 5.35 Decameron should be up to taking this but the price is forecast 4/5 and with several unraced horses in the field its hard to know how dangerous the opposition is. Sir Michael Stoute's colt has been placed on both of his career runs and warrants respect given the trainers record at the course.

[McG]

Re: York 14/6/08 Polite request - I'll be leaving home at about 10 tomorrow morning on my way to (hopefully) sunny York. It would be greatly appreciated if you could post your winners in here before then:ok