It is the penultimate day of the Ebor Festival at York on Friday where the feature attraction on the card is the Lonsdale Cup as Stradivarius will look to continue his amazing record when he runs on the Knavesmire. As with Enable on Thursday, he is unbackable at the prices but there is nothing to take him on with either so we are swerving that race and focusing on the opening handicap on the card.
1.55 York: Skybet Handicap
Preview
A big 19 runner Class 2 handicap to kick us off, this time over a mile and a half.
It has the look of a very open race with Corelli from the Gosden yard just edging favouritism at 13/2. He’s raced twice over trip in handicaps this term and, on both occasions, has been edged out narrowly. This issue is that his consistency has seen his mark raised again, this time by 3lbs, so I fear another near miss might be in the offing.
Jazeel is having a great season, defying rise after rise in mark but this mark proved beyond him 2 starts ago and that run was here at York. Caradoc is well fancied too having won last time out. This is a new trip, however, and looks tougher.
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Betting
There are 2 in this field I fancy, the first being the in form Mandarin ridden today by PJ McDonald. He’s progressing rapidly having been racing off a 15lb lower mark less than 3 months ago. In that time, he’s not stopped improving, finishing second twice in handicaps but winning a pair of handicaps with any amount in hand. Last time out, he was 3rd in the Shergar Cup off the mark but was given a poor ride, having had too much to do. To his credit, he finished with a rattle, denied by half a length. Given a better ride, he could easily put that right today.
The second selection is Eynhallow, now a 5 year old that has had problems having hardly seen the track recently. He was a decent 3 year old for Roger Charlton before moving to the Charlie Appleby yard where he ran in 2 big handicaps at Meydan at the start of 2018. Both times, he finished close up in the places and with a little more luck in running could have recorded a victory. He then went to Royal Ascot and, from a very wide draw, ran a good race in 7th in the Duke of Edinburgh. He then didn’t see the track for over a year until reappearing 13 days ago at Newmarket where he showed promise in finishing 4th of 7 at Newmarket over an inadequate trip of 10 furlongs. It’s interesting he’s been pitched in here with James Doyle taking the ride and, with conditions in his favour, I expect he’ll go close today.
Tips
Back Mandarin (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 Paddy Power BOG (⅕ odds 1-6)
Back Eynhallow (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 Coral BOG (⅕ odds 1-5)
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