The horse racing broadcaster offers his best bets for Thursday at York, including one in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.
Another quality bunch of five races on ITV on Thursday, focusing on the ladies with the three pattern races all restricted to fillies and mares.
Early on, the juveniles are in the spotlight in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes, where the 6f trip could be the key factor. Queen Mary winner Leovanni carries a penalty for that win and tries the extra furlong for the first time. She has looked the finished article since day one, so as others gain experience they may progress past her. This includes stable companion MISS LAMAI
9/4
(13:50 York), who has more substance and has form at the track when she was just caught close home in the Marygate by Betty Clover, who is among her rivals here. Miss Lamai committed plenty early enough that day, and if that challenge is delayed, she may surprise her stable companion. She saw out the stiff 5f at Naas well last time and the 6th furlong could suit.
It could be a red-letter day for the owner as MAW LAM
7/2
(14:25 York) also carries the Hirst colours in the valuable sales race, which follows the Lowther. Despite the intimidating field size, the class usually shines through in this race – remember Mums Tipple’s 11-length rout in 2019. Maw Lam has form lines with several of those in the Lowther and is nicely drawn in the centre to keep her options open, as she does come from the back of the field so would need to pick her way past some of the slow ones.
The big-field handicap of the day is the Clipper Handicap over the mile. David O’Meara throws several darts at the board and it could be BLUE FOR YOU
17/2
(15:00 York) who hits the bullseye. The favourite Elnajmm is a likeable horse but has been drawn almost in the stables in stall 17 and will require an inventive ride to avoid covering extra ground. By contrast, Blue For You has drawn stall 4 and has an excellent record at the track. His win here in July has been franked by Northern Express and a rise of just 3lb to 98 is still 2lb below the mark he placed off here earlier in the season.
The Group 1 race of the afternoon is the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks where EMILY UPJOHN
100/30
(15:35 York) can turn around a frustrating season. She got trapped out wide when well beaten at Goodwood, but her narrow defeat at the hands of Bluestocking at the Curragh still represents top-class form, especially as she was in front a long way out. The chief danger looks to be stable companion Queen of The Pride who has gone from strength to strength, but it is her first try at a level at which Emily Upjohn has been competing at exclusively for the last two seasons, and her greater experience could prove the deciding factor.
The Galtres looks to be the hardest puzzle of the day, so it may be worth forgiving the progressive ESMERAY
22/1
(16:10 Ascot) a rare below-par run last time at Newmarket. It is easy to assume that the step up to Listed company was the reason, but it was an unusually strongly run race, and she was close to the front from quite a long way out. She had been progressing well prior to that, and this does not look an overly strong renewal, so looks worth a throw at the stumps at a big price.
Stable Tracker update
No runners this week, but a couple of additions.
First is Winning Point, who did best of those close to a strong pace at Pontefract in a race which was set up for the closers. It was only the horse’s third career start, and there looks to be a fair bit more for Sir Michael Stoute to work on.
Also added is Ultramarine who has dropped to a very good mark and looks ready to capitalize based on her third at Windsor on Monday. All her wins have come on the All-Weather, so if she moves back to that surface, she would be of even more interest, but she will also be competitive on turf.
Additions: Winning Point, Ultramarine
A full list of stable tracker horses is available here.