{"id":249098,"date":"2025-07-08T22:09:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/249098\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T22:09:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:09:40","slug":"go-down-the-fox-and-hand-to-crack-john-smiths-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/249098\/","title":{"rendered":"Go down the Fox and Hand to crack John Smith\u2019s puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tTuesday 08 July 2025 5:33 pm\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tShare<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"social-share__popup-item\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-share__popup-item\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tX\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Twitter\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-share__popup-item\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on LinkedIn\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-share__popup-item\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tWhatsApp\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on WhatsApp\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-share__popup-item\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tEmail\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Email\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img width=\"742\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2158750768.jpg\" class=\"media \" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"sync\"  \/>\t\tHand Of God (red and white silks) came sixth in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot.\t<\/p>\n<p>SATURDAY sees York stage the John Smith\u2019s Cup (3.10pm) \u2013 one of the most valuable Flat handicaps run in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Worth over \u00a3100,000 to the winner, it\u2019s no surprise that entries for this extended mile-and-a-quarter event are full of progressive horses from top yards.<\/p>\n<p>William Haggas\u2019 Archivist heads the betting at 6\/1, but he isn\u2019t my idea of an ante-post bet as he still needs a few to come out to be guaranteed a run, and whilst I\u2019ve had this race in mind for Defiance all season, the ground will likely be too quick for him.<\/p>\n<p>The first that catches my eye as a bet is Harry Charlton\u2019s <strong>HAND OF GOD<\/strong> at 10\/1.<\/p>\n<p>He looked a progressive three-year-old last year and was set for Group races after comfortably winning a 10-furlong Royal Ascot handicap.<\/p>\n<p>Injury meant he wasn\u2019t seen again until his 2025 return, where he was backed off the boards in a Guineas Day handicap, but only able to finish ninth.<\/p>\n<p>At Royal Ascot this year, he stripped fitter and travelled well into the Duke Of Edinburgh, only to be outstayed over a mile-and-a-half behind Willie Mullins\u2019 Ethical Diamond.<\/p>\n<p>Back down to this more suitable trip and with top York jockey Danny Tudhope booked, he must be respected.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/happy-birthday-adam-smith-your-ideas-are-still-fresh-at-302\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Happy birthday Adam Smith, your ideas are still fresh at 302<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also like the look of Andrew Balding\u2019s <strong>FOX LEGACY<\/strong> at 10\/1.<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t set the world alight when trained by Sir Michael Stoute and is one of a few ex-Freemason Lodge inmates to have improved for new yards this term.<\/p>\n<p>After impressively winning a nine-furlong Guineas meeting handicap in May, he ran a big race in the Royal Hunt Cup three weeks ago where he stayed on well over the mile.<\/p>\n<p>Back up in trip, he has a cracking each-way chance as the Balding team look to continue their fantastic recent form.<\/p>\n<p><strong>POINTERS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SATURDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hand Of God e\/w\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3.10pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 York<\/p>\n<p>Fox Legacy e\/w\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3.10pm \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 York<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/wh-smith-knocks-down-price-of-high-street-stores-to-close-sale\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WH Smith knocks down price of high street stores to close sale<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tSimilarly tagged content: <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tSections\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tCategories\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tRelated Topics\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday 08 July 2025 5:33 pm Share Facebook Share on Facebook X Share on Twitter LinkedIn Share on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-249098","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\/114819902333314633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249098","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=249098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}