The horse racing broadcaster offers five tips for Saturday's racing at York, Sandown and Chester, including a pick for Sandown's feature race, the Listed Scurry Stakes.
An eclectic pre–Royal Ascot mix of races on ITV this weekend, with the later kick off of World Cup matches allowing coverage to stay in its regular slot.
At York it is MacMillan Charity Day with the opening race being the traditional Female Amateurs Queen Mother Cup, which could well have been the reason behind the purchase of CHILLINGHAM 5/1 (13:50 York) at the October Horses in Training Sales. Chillingham was second last year but subsequently awarded the race as the rider of the original winner My Dream World had gone four times over the whip limit. Sadly that denied Becky Smith her ceremonial weigh in with the boxes of champagne and it could well be significant that several months after his purchase Chillingham is back, once again under Becky, and now with the stable she rides most for. Chillingham is not straight forward as he can be keen and excitable, but he is talented and loves the Knavesmire. His mark here is 6lb lower than last year and he has placed off even higher over course and distance in the past.
Few horses are as battle hardened as AL QAREEM 2/1 (15:00 York) who can win for a fourth time at York and repeat last year’s success in the Listed 1m 5f race. Al Qareem has his ceiling in terms of mixing it at the top level and found Jan Breughel too hot to handle at Chester in the Ormonde. A longer straight draws out his battling abilities far better and his UK and Ireland record under Clifford Lee is 9/22 (A/E 1.84). Epic Poet and Mount Atlas will both provide stern opposition but will find Karl Burke’s horse tough to get by when the chips are down.
The feature race at Sandown is the Listed Scurry Stakes where MANATEE MEHMAS 5/1 (14:42 Sandown) looks worth supporting despite meeting higher rated rivals. Only making his debut at Doncaster in April he has come quite a long way in a short space of time with his fourth on only his second career start in the Listed Westow Stakes at York. That was entitled to be a bit of a shock after his facile maiden win, but he proved himself not out of place travelling well but being picked off by a pair of closers. He could still be on the upgrade here which may not be said for a few of his higher rated rivals. Whilst Charlie Appleby’s horses are going better than they were, numerically they are still well down with just four UK runners in the first 11 days of June. Which suggests there may still be issues behind the scenes so with his pair, Words of Truth and Military Code, taking a big share of the market it may be worth looking elsewhere
Later on, BEAGLE BAY 11/4 (15:17 Sandown) could still be ahead of the grader despite a 9lb rise for a win on his handicap debut at Yarmouth. It was soft ground that day and he powered away in the closing stages over 7f looking as if the step up to a mile would bring out even more improvement. The second horse that day has come out and won and Beagle Bay could well be on his way to even better things.
Over on the Roodee, STARTLED 9/2 (14:10 Chester) has already had a fine season and looked to bump into one in the shape of Catullus at Goodwood, a rare bright spot for Godolphin. He has risen significantly in the weights but has been strong at the finish of all his races this season so the slight rise in trip may act in his favour. He is a hold up horse so the short straight at Chester may make it a white knuckle ride, but he has good tactical speed in a finish so hopefully his stellar season can continue.
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