Our columnist with a guide to his runners on the second day of the York Dante Festival.<\/p>\n
THURSDAYYork14:10 Vintage Clarets<\/p>\n
He has winning form at York and showed he was on the way back when running well in third at Ripon last time. He\u2019ll need luck in running as he always does and this is a York sprint handicap so you know it\u2019s going to be tough. I\u2019d just imagine he\u2019d ideally want slower ground but he goes there in great order.<\/p>\n
16:55 Spaceman<\/p>\n
A son of Starman who we like. As I keep saying we haven\u2019t really been able to find out too much about the two-year-olds before they race this season because of the long dry spell.<\/p>\n
We like what we see at Musley Bank from him but this is a tough race with Wise Approach and Jan Steen winning on debut and a host of other well-bred newcomers. I hope my fellow shapes well.<\/p>\n
FridayYork14:42 Have Secret<\/p>\n
I thought the handicapper was very tough on him, putting him up eight pounds for winning at Ripon the other day. We were one of the very few race-fit horses in there and while he won well, he was entitled to.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s had eight or nine goes from marks in the high-80s and low-90s and never won before but we have to try again. I hope I\u2019m wrong and the handicapper is right as he\u2019s in very good form.<\/p>\n
16:15 Loom<\/p>\n
He over-raced at Newmarket on his return and was a bit fresh so we\u2019re dropping him back to five furlongs on Friday. I think he\u2019s probably a six-furlong horse if I\u2019m honest but he needs to learn to chill and relax in his races. He is talented and I do like him.<\/p>\n
16:15 Mearall<\/p>\n
A horse who has wintered extremely well, I\u2019m very pleased with him this spring. This is a fact-finding mission to find out if five furlongs is OK for him. If it is, we\u2019ll probably aim at Royal Ascot and he goes to York very fit and very well.<\/p>\n
16:15 Tuscan Point<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be a little surprised if he won this as he needs to step up on what he\u2019s been doing but he is getting plenty of weight and that always gives them a chance.<\/p>\n
17:30 Flying Fletcher<\/p>\n
I do think seven furlongs could be his trip. He loves dropping in and coming from off the pace. He\u2019ll need luck but could go well if everything falls right for him.<\/p>\n
17:30 Musical Touch<\/p>\n
He\u2019s in great form, I\u2019m very pleased with him and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing him over seven furlongs for the first time. He has a nice, uncomplicated, draw in three and I hope he\u2019s still progressing.<\/p>\n
SaturdayNewbury13:25 Strong Warrior<\/p>\n
I feel like I\u2019m picking on the handicapper, but he\u2019s put him on a mark of 91 which means I can\u2019t run in Class 2 handicaps. So, we go down for this Listed race against three or four horses with very solid, pattern-race form.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fact-finding mission with our colt. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing if he can step up and play with the big boys. I hope he can.<\/p>\n
Thirsk13:35 Cotai Belle<\/p>\n
I was disappointed with her at Leicester on debut and she\u2019s worked disappointingly since, she\u2019s working as she ran. I think she might need to go down the handicap route but I hope she proves me wrong and turn out to be the filly I thought she might be before the first run.<\/p>\n
15:55 Quiet Resolve<\/p>\n
I\u2019m surprised the race has cut up a little bit. I was going to run in what looked an easier one on the card but for \u00a320,000 we have to a go in this. I thought he ran well last time and was probably in front too soon and just got nailed late.<\/p>\n
16:30 Reidh<\/p>\n
He hasn\u2019t been at his best so far this season. He ran a little better at Redcar last time but needs more again on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Doncaster18:07 Minshaar<\/p>\n
I do like this filly and was very disappointed with her at Pontefract first time where she was a bit green. She\u2019s better than that but there are one or two in here that will be tough to beat, Fast Track Harry is rated 90 for example. I do like my filly though.<\/p>\n
18:42 Sporting Light<\/p>\n
I thought he ran well first time at Pontefract, he travelled well through the race. I think we\u2019ll ride him with a little more restraint on Saturday, get a lead and use his speed to get into the race. He goes there in good form and has done very well since his debut.<\/p>\n
19:15 Rock Opera<\/p>\n
He ran well to be second at Pontefract last time and is off the same mark so he must have a chance in an open race.<\/p>\n
19:48 Ay Gee Ell<\/p>\n
He\u2019s proving a tough horse to win with. I ran him in an ordinary maiden at Hamilton last time and he just found one too good. The owner has a box at Doncaster on Saturday and I\u2019m delighted there\u2019s a race there for this fellow. He\u2019s down a pound to 76 and I hope he runs well for the owners.<\/p>\n
More from Sporting LifeSafer gambling<\/p>\n
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a><\/strong> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a><\/strong> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our columnist with a guide to his runners on the second day of the York Dante Festival. THURSDAYYork14:10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-103583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114512025808537424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}