Neil Morrice brings us all of his best bets and tips for Thursday’s racing at the York Ebor Festival, including his feature race analysis.
York Undercard Best Bets
Race 1: LIBERTY BEACH (13)
Trainer: John Quinn
Jockey: Jason Hart
The Lowther Stakes always throws up a filly with a sizzling pace and LIBERTY BEACH has that in bundles. A winner of all but one of her five outings this season and that in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, she should take this step up to six furlongs in her stride. She displayed an electric turn of foot to plunder the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood and certainly wasn’t stopping at the finish.
Race 4: ENABLE (1)
Trainer: John Gosden
Jockey: Frankie Dettori
The winner of this Darley Yorkshire Oaks in 2017 but unable to defend her crown when she wasn’t ready last year, ENABLE should deliver in her final outing on English soil. A smooth triumph in the fillies & Mares Group 1 will keep her on course to become the first horse in history to win three Prix de l’Arc de Triumphs. To do that, she must confirm her superiority over Magical, who ran her to threequarters of a length in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in Kentucky. It will be a crippling jolt to her connections, not to mention the massive Yorkshire crowd if she fails.
Race 6: MUBTASIMAH (7)
Trainer: William Haggas
Jockey: James Doyle
Haggas likes nothing better than saddling winners here. A Yorkshireman to his bones, he looks to have strong claims of landing this concluding fillies’ handicap with MUBTASIMAH. Her progressive sequence of three successes from as many starts gives her the look of a filly who is going places, and when completing her hat-trick at Newmarket she could be named the winner a long way out.
York Feature Race Analysis
Clipper Logistics Handicap (Class 2)
Races of this ilk are often won by a Group horse, though interestingly there are no three-year-olds in the 20-runner field and the vast majority of the runners are fully exposed. It’s a question of unravelling a horse from whom improvement can still be eked out.
The Queen’s SENIORITY is one that takes the eye as he seeks to open his account for the season for trainer William Haggas. The five-year-old tackled the hugely competitive Golden Mile at Goodwood where he rode his luck from a hold-up ride.
To obtain racing room at the business end of such a race is in the lap of the gods and without being hampered when charging through horses at the quarter pole he would have finished closer than his eventual two and a half lengths fourth to Beat Le Bon.
Prominent in the ante-post list for this and a definite contender on the best of his form this season is KYNREN. With just three outings under his belt, David Barron’s charge is one that could still have room for improvement, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his Fifth to Afaak in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot, where he won his race in the far side group.
For a man who regularity fields more than one runner in big handicaps, Mark Johnston relies solely on VALE OF KENT which could be seen as a tip in itself. Unlike Seniority he enjoyed the perfect trip in the Golden Mile, chasing the early leader before leading two furlongs out, then staying on again after being headed. However, at these weights, he’s not guaranteed to confirm the form, with York tending to be a kinder place for hold up horses.
Another trying to advertise the Golden Mile form is the Keith Dalgleish-trained WHAT’S THE STORY who is a course and distance winner here this season. He didn’t have a chance after getting buried on the dreaded inside at Goodwood, and could easily bounce back.
BALTIC BARON finished three and a quarter lengths fifth in that race where he met a similarly perilous passage down the inner. He did see some daylight when switched tight approaching the distance and finished to good effect.
The fact that top weight SILVER LINE has made only one (winning) appearance for Godolphin this year tells you everything you need to know about the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained runner. It was only in a Class 3 at Nottingham that he returned to the fold, but the way he trounced Oasis Prince suggests he could have made great strides from four to five.
Another lightly-raced candidate is THRAVE. Henry Candy’s charge has proved expensive to follow but comes here with just four outings under his belt in 2019. He was unlucky to lose out in a driving three-way finish at Newbury, had corn problems when disappointing at Sandown and ran into the smart Indeed at Newmarket, though the latter then bombed out in the Golden Mile.
Neil Morrice’s Predicted Finish:
1st SENIORITY
2nd Silver Line
3rd Kynren
4th Thrave
5th Baltic Baron
