Today’s best bets, live news and day two of our weekly tipping competition

11.55am Hot race for Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday

Chris Cook: The first two from this year’s Oaks, Snow Fairy and Meeznah, will line up against the first two from last year’s Oaks, Sariska and Midday, in the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday. The race could be one of the most memorable this season and you can see the final declarations here.

Dream Ahead is the most notable of six non-runners here at York today. You can keep track of the withdrawals here.

I’m going to file my notes from the paddock before today’s big races. You can follow my thoughts here.

Good luck with your bets today and for the rest of the Ebor meeting!

Today’s best bets, by Tony Paley

Only 1.4mm of rain fell on the Knavesmire overnight and the going at the track remains good. That will be to the benefit of Dick Turpin who steps up to a mile and a quarter for the first time in the Juddmonte International and would not have wanted the going to have become too testing. You can read my thoughts on today’s TV races here but there is already disappointing news ahead of this afternoon’s action with the announcement that the exciting Dream Ahead won’t be running in the Acomb Stakes.

The final race is an interesting one with Royal Destination an intriguing runner having won this event last year off a 1lb lower mark. Any market move for him could be significant while I will also be monitoring the performance of Markazzi carefully. Sir Michael Stoute is trying him in a tongue-tie today and the colt would have a major chance if back to the best of his juvenile form. Be Invincible (4.40), who should appreciate the step up in trip and whose form with Lost In The Moment is working out well, is the choice but this is wide-open and very much a race to watch with an eye to future winners.

The Stoute-trained Ask, who would have been a leading contender for the Lonsdale Cup tomorrow, is also out due to lameness. The colt has been unlucky with injuries and failed to stay when running in the Ascot Gold Cup in June.

Tipping competition, day two

MrPositive and Woadboy are cutting out the early running, having found Higgy’s Ragazzo (9-2) and Falling Angel (3-1) on opening day. Johne5knuckle had Falling Angel and added Greensward (11-4).

Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 2.50 York, 3.25 York, 4.40 York.

This week’s prize is a copy of The Gambling Adventures of Father Green, a collection of short stories by former Racing Post man Michael Church, now the official historian of the Derby.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -3.

In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.

For terms and conditions click here.

Good luck!

Standings after day one

MrPositive +6.50

Woadboy +6.50

johne5knuckle +4.75

shears39 +2.50

scandalous +2.50

15244 +2.50

mike65ie +1

chrishol +1

sangfroid +1

Ormrod76 +1

lasramblas +1

thegreasedscotsman +1

millreef +0.75

JahLion +0.75

23skidoo +0.75

carl31 +0.75

BearRides -3

tom1977 -3

xwireman -3

MauriceNL -3

peterpickum -3

Copshaw -3

erifder -3

chiefhk -3

moidadembums -3

pops2 -3

slackdad38 -3

LorrainePa -3

melonk -3

diegoisgod -3

Onmeheadson -3

Slicker66 -3

stee33 -3

chris1623 -3

WalthamstowLad -3

Brochdoll -3

Shrewdette -3

twig28 -3

Mai11 -3

leviticus67 -3

Viejo -3

Ellandback -3

sandiuk -3

orso -3

Harrytheactor -3

snowy81 -3

Click here for all the day’s racecards, form, stats and results.

Click here for today’s latest odds.

And post your racing-related comments below.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

The worsening financial situation gives the government and racing the opportunity to bring about major reforms of the sport’s funding and structure

Racing could and should be a gold mine for the government but is now in danger of becoming another failed industry. Less than a year ago the British Horseracing Authority did not respond to my warning that the finances of British racing were heading for a dramatic decline. As it turns out, the sport’s financial standing is worse than I predicted, as the contribution to prize money from the Levy, a percentage of profits from off-course betting paid by bookmakers, is forecast to drop from the 2009 level of £63m to £37m in 2011.

We all hope a government decision, in the autumn, will lead to a modernised Levy that in turn obliges bookmakers and exchanges to pay a reasonable price for the product. Furthermore, the government must pass effective legislation requiring all betting operators, on-shore and offshore, to pay tax and levy that they are currently avoiding.

The size of the problems should be regarded as an opportunity for the government and racing to bring about change. Some of these will be very unwelcome in the short term. However, I am optimistic that a better funding system for racing, based on strict commercial principles, will emerge.

As the reality of our dire situation dawns, so the value of the Horsemen’s Group, made up of owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys and stable staff, becomes increasingly recognised. Only a grouping of all these constituents can provide the necessary foil to the strength of the racecourses’ interests.

Already, it is being grudgingly acknowledged by the racecourses that the system, whereby virtually every fixture receives funding from the Levy Board cannot continue. Equally, the Horsemen’s Group is now aware of how much the racecourses are earning in media rights and expects a reasonable proportion of this income to make up for the deficiencies of the Levy in softening the blow on prize-money levels.

As I said last autumn, we are now moving inexorably towards a defined tiered system of racing based not on racecourses but on fixtures. This will result in premier fixtures, run at the top tracks, and, underneath that level, fixtures categorised according to the prize-money they offer which will be based on guidelines set by the Horsemen’s Group. Within this system, minimum prize-money levels will be set according to the classes of race, not simply by the sport’s governing body, the BHA.

The relationship between the Horsemen’s Group and the racecourses will develop into the strongest commercial axis within racing. It should be a relationship based on sound negotiating principles with each side understanding the financial position of the other. Once this is in place, the BHA can do what they were always supposed to do – regulate.

As for the remaining life of the Levy Board, as long as they can be satisfied their statutory obligations are being met, they should confine their role to facilitating the payment by all betting operators of a reasonable price for the racing product. The way in which the money is divided up should be left to the Horsemen’s Group and racecourses to agree upon.

With all this in place, we can then focus on constructing an effective and sustainable mechanism whereby all betting operators pay a commercial rate for the privilege of taking bets on racing.

There is a clear understanding that these reforms are essential to restructure the racing industry so that it is sustainable, modernised and financially healthy. An entertainment industry that, in difficult economic times, guarantees employment and substantial revenues to the government.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

• Aidan O’Brien’s patient approach can pay off at York
• Rewilding can emerge as a serious contender for the St Leger

Harbinger may be the spectre at the feast but the Juddmonte International Stakes on the first day of York’s Ebor meeting still promises to be a tasty affair with Rip Van Winkle (3.25) given the nod in what should be a tight contest.

Harbinger, the runaway King George winner, would have been a hot favourite if not succumbing to serious injury, whereas the four vying closely at the head of the market will all rightly have their supporters.

Rip Van Winkle won twice at this Group One level last season but arguably put up his best performance when making last year’s champion racehorse and 2009 Juddmonte winner, Sea The Stars, pull out all the stops over this trip at Sandown last summer in the Eclipse Stakes.

The selection had well documented feet problems during that campaign and Aidan O’Brien has made it clear he would bring him along more slowly this time.

After a below-par performance on his seasonal reappearance at Royal Ascot behind Goldikova, he was beaten a neck at Glorious Goodwood by the top-class miler Canford Cliffs, a run that suggests he is on top form again and on this step up in trip, he is expected to improve on according to his trainer.

The progressive Byword, from master trainer Andre Fabre’s yard, is a major danger. He beat today’s opponent Twice Over a shade cosily in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and can confirm those placings despite the runner-up not getting the best of runs that day. He will appreciate any overnight rain and is likely to be capable of better than he has shown.

Late entry Dick Turpin, supplemented for this event after Harbinger’s defection, will not be out of place if reproducing last month’s Group One Prix Jean Prat success in France but will have to prove he stays this extra quarter-mile.

1.45 At York it invariably pays to stick with horses that race prominently in sprints and Walvis Bay, who usually makes the running, is guaranteed to be up with the pace. The three-year-old looked to have found his ideal distance when dropping down to this five-furlong trip last time out, is unexposed compared to the bulk of the older handicappers he races against here and will not be inconvenienced if the ground rides on the slow side.

2.15 David Simcock is enjoying a good season and was bullish about the prospects of Dream Ahead before his debut run at Nottingham last month. The selection went off a well-backed favourite and the nine-length drubbing of his opponents marked him out as an exciting prospect in the making. He runs here instead of in a higher grade in the Gimcrack Stakes on Wednesday where he would have had a serious chance.

2.50 The Godolphin camp are in sparkling form right now and their Rewilding can underline his St Leger claims here. Frankie Dettori’s mount was impressive in his Derby trial race at Goodwood in May and had today’s rival, Midas Touch, behind when looking unsuited to the track but still finishing third to Workforce at Epsom.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

The Irish Sun racing correspondent Declan O’Donoghue has selections at both Tramore and Dundalk, while William Hill Radio’s Mick Naughton looks at the cards at Bath and Pontefract.

Join Mick, Niall Hannity and Steven Powell in the studio from 2pm.

Source – William Hill News | horse-racing

• Makfi puts St James’s Palace Stakes failure behind him
• Goldikova and Paco Boy beaten into second and third

Makfi may turn out to be the best miler in Europe after all, having returned to form with an authoritative success over Goldikova in the Prix Jacques le Marois this afternoon. A shock winner of the 2,000 Guineas in May, the colt may now take on Canford Cliffs in what would be a highly anticipated renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot next month.

The winner of four races from five starts, Makfi appears to have offended the betting public in some way, having never yet started as the outright favourite. Allowed to go off at 33-1 for his Classic victory at Newmarket, he was a relatively popular 4-1 shot on the French tote today, but that still left him as the third-favourite of eight runners, behind Goldikova and Paco Boy.

Those odds looked generous at every stage of the Marois, in which he travelled smoothly, on Goldikova’s tail, before quickening past inside the final furlong. Paco Boy was alongside Makfi when the eventual winner made his move but tired in the closing stages, allowing Goldikova to reclaim second place. The rest trailed by six lengths or more.

“I’m delighted, of course, we have been victorious,” said Makfi’s trainer, Mikel Delzangles, who is based near Chantilly. “I was a bit disappointed after Ascot but we knew he was sick, so there was a reason for that,” he added, a reference to the St James’s Palace Stakes in which Makfi was seventh. The three-year-old was subsequently found to have been suffering from a throat infection.

“He has proved again that he is a top miler,” said Delzangles, who may now aim Makfi at the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November, a race Goldikova has won for the past two years. More immediately, the horse may have his next race in Longchamp’s Prix du Moulin on 5 September, while the trainer is considering a return to Ascot for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes three weeks later. That race is also the next target for Canford Cliffs, who was two lengths behind Makfi in the Guineas but has since won three Group Ones, including the St James’s Palace.

Delzangles insisted that his horse, who appeared well-suited by the rain-softened surface, “can go on any ground”. A more pressing issue, perhaps, is whether Makfi can produce his best form when asked to race around a bend, as he would be in the Moulin, the QEII and the Breeders’ Cup. Even allowing for ill health, he appeared uncomfortable on the turn for home at Royal Ascot. Today’s race was run over a straight mile, as was the Guineas.

Freddy Head could offer no excuses for Goldikova, who was suffering her first defeat in five starts at Deauville. The mare still needs one more Group One success to break the record for a European-trained horse, set by Miesque. She may also be aimed at the Moulin.

Paco Boy’s effort was disappointing for Richard Hannon, who also has Canford Cliffs in his Wiltshire yard.

“He just didn’t get home in that ground,” the trainer said. “I don’t know yet [where the horse will go next], we’ve got to go and have a rethink.” A stallion deal for Paco Boy was signed recently and the horse may be retired without another race.

Overdose, the Hungarian sprinter deprived of Group One glory by a false start in the 2008 Prix de l’Abbaye, continued his comeback from injury with an easy win in Budapest. The five-year-old is now unbeaten in 14 starts and is likely to have his next race in Germany in two weeks’ time.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

• Richard Hughes and Olivier Peslier take over first-day rides
• Moore using ice chamber to help heal injured wrist

Ryan Moore will miss at least the first day of York’s Ebor meeting, which starts on Tuesday, and there is now a clear possibility that the champion jockey will be absent for the entire week. Moore suffered a badly bruised wrist at Windsor last Monday night when his mount fell after crossing the line and, although he escaped without a broken bone, the joint has taken longer to recover than originally expected.

When the final declarations for Tuesday’s races at York were published today, Moore’s name was absent. He would normally be expected to ride Total Command, trained by his principal employer Sir Michael Stoute, in the Great Voltigeur, but Olivier Peslier has been booked instead. A 12-1 shot for tomorrow, the horse is being aimed at next month’s St Leger.

Peslier is making a habit of profiting at the expense of the unfortunate Moore, having steered Harbinger to victory in the King George at Ascot three weeks ago when Moore chose to partner Workforce. The Frenchman has also picked up one of the other two rides for which Moore had been booked on Tuesday, while Richard Hughes has the remaining mount.

Most of Moore’s provisional bookings for later in the week have been scratched, with a notable beneficiary being Kieren Fallon, whose name now appears next to several runners from Stoute’s stable, including Kingsgate Native in Friday’s Nunthorpe Stakes. It is Peslier, however, who is expected to ride Stoute’s Ask in the Lonsdale Cup on Wednesday.

Notorious for his reticence in public, Moore remained elusive today. His father, Gary, a trainer, said: “I think he’s probably giving it a little bit more time. He’s been getting as much treatment as he can but it doesn’t seem to be responding as well as he hoped.

“I know he was desperate to get back for this week but it’s obviously been worse than he thought. It’s not even a week since he did it, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”

Moore Sr said his son had been making use of Kriotherapy, the so-called “ice-chamber treatment” that helped Tony McCoy return to fitness after injuring his back two years ago.

Ruby Walsh will return to action for one mount at Roscommon this evening, more than four months after his arm was broken in three places at Aintree on Grand National day. Walsh was injured when a horse stepped on him after he fell from Celestial Halo in the Aintree Hurdle.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

• Makfi puts St James’s Palace Stakes failure behind him
• Goldikova and Paco Boy beaten into second and third

Makfi claimed the prized scalps of Goldikova and Paco Boy when springing a surprise in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville this afternoon.

The 2000 Guineas winner put a dismal display in the St James’s Palace Stakes behind him to demonstrate that his Classic win was no fluke.

The Mikel Delzangles-trained colt led inside the final furlong and drew away from his field on the rain-softened ground to score comfortably from Goldikova with Paco Boy just behind in third.

As expected, Goldikova’s two pacemakers Saying and Only Green set off in front with the brilliant mare on their tails. Makfi had a nice position with Christophe Soumillon getting plenty of cover while Paco Boy was at the rear towards the far side.

Although Goldikova took the lead as planned she could not quite produce her characteristic acceleration in the testing conditions, and it was Makfi who had the potent turn of foot. He swept into the lead to put clear daylight between his two talented older rivals.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

• Lifelong racing fan turns one-eyed horse into winner
• Party officials pay golf penalty strokes in China

A lifelong racing fan has hit on every owner’s dream: buying a half-blind filly with a club foot, bad shoulder and a reputation for being slow for $2,000, and turning her into a winner attracting offers of up to half a million dollars. But there’s so much more to the story.

Tim Snyder had spent a lifetime on the turf, galloping horses at racetracks and farms from Ontario to Florida. He was even born at one. His father, Warren, was a jockey, and in 1954, after a win at Scarborough Downs, an obscure track in Maine, his pregnant wife headed for the winner’s circle to greet him. But someone bumped into her on the escalator, she fell, went into labour and gave birth to Tim in the first-aid room of the track.

Snyder met his wife, Lisa, at Finger Lakes racetrack in western New York, when she was a stable hand in 1991. Together, they built a profitable stable of about 20 inexpensive horses, which they owned, trained and rode. “She was my girlfriend, my wife, my best friend,” Snyder tells Albany’s Times Union. “She had a big smile and a big heart.” In 2003, Lisa died of ovarian cancer, aged 38, and a devastated Snyder left New York and horses behind.

But three years later he returned to Finger Lakes and took on a horse from a friend who had wanted $4,500 but settled for all Snyder had – $2,000 and a promise to pay the rest later. In the meantime, he borrowed money to take care of the filly. Blind since birth in her left eye, the horse ran awkwardly, so Snyder hired a blacksmith to work on her feet and apply corrective horseshoes. He galloped and taught her to trust her instincts when she couldn’t see what was happening to the left.

All that remained was a name and, after enjoying lunch at a charmingly named “gentlemen’s club” in Florida, Snyder took its title for his horse. Unfortunately there was already a “Booby Trap” on the books so, in honour of his wife, she became “Lisa’s Booby Trap”. All was ready for her debut at Finger Lakes.

She won by almost 18 lengths. Immediately a buyer offered Snyder $150,000 for

a 49% share, but he said no. After she won her second by 10-and-a-half lengths, a Kentucky buyer offered $500,000 if she won her third. She did, by eight-and-a-half lengths. “Half a million when you’re broke?” Snyder said at Saratoga before the next race, where he was sleeping in a tack room in the barn near his horse. “That’s a lot of money. But she’s not for sale – at any price. This is a personal thing for me.”

At that race last week, Lisa’s Booby Trap stepped up a grade to the Loudonville Stakes undefeated, but still a long shot at 12-1. She won by six lengths.

“I knew when I entered the race how fast she is,” says Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux. “I knew those other fillies had to be smokin’ to clear her, but she showed her talent when I asked her to run.” The win means her next start could be the $110,000 Grade III Victory Ride on 28 August, the highlight of the Saratoga meet.

“I basically talk to her the same way I talked to my wife … I always relate her with Lisa. I know that sounds kind of crazy,” says Snyder.

Perhaps, but it does fit perfectly with his admission that in his wife’s final days she would comfort her mother by squeezing her hand and saying over and over: “Don’t worry. I’m coming back as a horse … Don’t worry. I’m coming back as a horse.”

China: Party officials set to face golfing penalty stroke

More than 30 government officials have been ordered to relinquish their membership of a luxurious golf club in the city of Wenzhou after a torrent of criticism, the Communist Party news sheet People’s Daily announced last week.

The Wenzhou Evening News published an advert on Tuesday celebrating the opening of the Wenzhou Golf Association, but the gesture went badly wrong. It featured the names of 30 party officials who were in the association, including its chairman, the deputy secretary-general of Wenzhou’s government. The Association charges 398,000 yuan (£37,500) for membership – about 40 times the average annual income of farmers in Zhejiang province, where it is located, and the appearance of so many public officials as members provoked a backlash. “They are waving the government whips, grabbing the company cash, and taking the part-time posts,” said an angry member of the non-golf-playing proletariat.

The Wenzhou Municipal Party Committee held a session on Thursday to deal with the problem and announced that those who “participated in golf against relevant regulations” should be punished by the Municipal Discipline Committee. Whether this “participation in golf” will result in a mere suspension of playing privileges or something more draconian, is yet to be seen. The party has repeatedly vowed to stamp out official corruption and earlier this year three referees accused of match fixing were told they may face a death sentence.

Mongolia: Following in the footsteps of Genghis Khan

American rider Justin Nelzen has won this year’s Mongol Derby, a 1,000km race across the steppe that celebrates the horseback messenger system used by Genghis Khan, reports Horsetalk. A sort of survivalist, endurance pony trek, competitors race between horse stations placed 40km apart, at each of which they change their native Mongolian horses for fresh mounts.

The race took eight days to complete and was not easy. “You have to be tough waking up with aches and pains and facing another 12 or 14 hours in the saddle. But it couldn’t have been a better experience,” said Nelzen.

That the derby is simply a diversion for the bored and over-privileged was emphatically denied in a mid-trek report: “The race is hotting up now, Richard, Sophie and Alisa left 10 minutes ahead of Justin, Madonna and Saskia this morning. All in good spirits despite wet conditions …”

Venezuela: Baseball shooting mars World Cup match

The women’s World Cup had a rocky start last week when a player from Hong Kong was shot mid-match. The Associated Press reported that Cheuk Woon Yee suddenly fell to the ground during a game with Holland in a stadium at the Fort Tiuna military base in Caracas. Medics found she had been shot in the lower leg and she was rushed to hospital where the bullet was removed.

It was unclear whether the bullet was fired on the base or from outside it. Gun violence is common near the base and is a serious problem in Venezuela. Last year, the Justice Ministry released figures showing there were 12,257 homicides nationwide in the first 11 months of 2009.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

Kent-based trainer believes he can reclaim the sprinting honours at York’s four-day Ebor Festival

It is three years since John Best got what should have been his breakthrough moment as a trainer, when he sent out Kingsgate Native to win the Nunthorpe Stakes at York’s high-quality Ebor meeting. It was his first Group One success, achieved against older horses with a two-year-old who, at that point, had not won a race.

Such a magnificent feat of training must have had owners knocking his door down, surely? “Well no, not really,” said Best between races at Lingfield last week, “because immediately after that, the country went into recession.

“People stopped spending money on horses. That came at completely the wrong time for me. If things had carried on going, I think it would have made a big difference.”

Best won a great deal of respect, but few new clients. While there is widespread appreciation of what he can do with unpromising material, he is still waiting to be sent any handsomely bred yearlings by the mega-rich types who dominate Flat racing.

So, on Friday, Best will try to pull off this unlikely trick for a second time. Stone Of Folca, another winless two-year-old from his 70-horse yard at Hucking in Kent, will line up in the Nunthorpe and, at 12-1, there appear to be plenty of backers who see him as a live contender.

“He’s got bags and bags of pace, that’s the thing that impresses me about him,” Best says. “Whether we’re good enough to win the race, I don’t know and I don’t think we’ll know until we run. But certainly we can say our horse is a faster horse than Kingsgate Native was when he won it.

“Stone Of Folca isn’t quite as physically imposing as Kingsgate Native was. He was a real bull of a horse, he didn’t look like a two-year-old, he looked like a four-year-old. This one is a very mature two-year-old but he’s not got quite that physique.”

It would be a mistake to judge Stone Of Folca harshly just because he has not yet made it to the winner’s enclosure. As with Kingsgate Native, he has started his career in some hot-looking races, running twice at Royal Ascot and also at Glorious Goodwood. It was at the Sussex track that he came closest to breaking his duck, cruising into the final furlong as if about to win easily, only to be outpaced close home by Zebedee. Best feels his horse may have been unsuited by the way that race panned out. “They went a crawl. Beforehand, it looked as if there was a lot of pace in the race but they didn’t go quick enough for us, that’s for sure. And they will do in the Nunthorpe.”

That outcome was frustrating but the trainer admits he may find it even harder to bear if he is narrowly beaten on Friday by Kingsgate Native who, having failed at stud, is surrounded by other champions at Sir Michael Stoute’s yard. “Of course, I wish I had him,” says Best, but he is adamant that advising the horse’s former owner to sell for an undisclosed sum was right. “If you sell horses for that amount of money, you can never be wrong.

“Every year, we return a massive profit, overall, for our owners, by buying and selling horses. And to do that, you have to sell the bad ones and you have to sell the good ones.”

It is a game at which Best has proved so adept that he has considered ditching the business model followed by almost all yards, replacing owners of individual horses with investors holding a share in every horse. “That way, we could return a profit, year-on-year, for our investors. We’ve gone back five years with our accounts and we’ve shown that it can work. The problem is that a lot of owners want their horses to run in their name.

“If Stone Of Folca wins the Nunthorpe, hopefully a stud will come along and want to buy him and we can do a deal similar to the one we did with Kingsgate Native, where we sold to the stud but we kept him for another year. If he wins, the horse is going to be worth in excess of £1m.”

That will be very exciting news for dozens of people, as Stone Of Folca is the property of the Folkestone Racecourse Owners Group, an enormous syndicate. There are 120 shares, each of which cost £550 when the horse entered training. Some people now own as many as 20 shares but even those with just one will be looking at a 16-fold profit if all goes as well as Best hopes. And the trainer does not disguise the fact that he could do with a break. “I’m making it work for the owners, it doesn’t mean to say I’m making it work for myself. It’s really, really tough for us at the moment.”

James Given is another trainer for whom victory at York this week would make a major difference; his Dandino lines up for Tuesday’s Great Voltigeur. This game three-year-old has racked up four wins and a second from five starts and accounts for more than a third of all prize money won by Given’s Lincolnshire yard this year. Dandino should be better suited by this course than when pipped at Goodwood last time but he may still be up against it with Midas Touch (2.50) in the field. Beaten half a length in the Irish Derby, Midas Touch is attractively priced at 7-2 to give Aidan O’Brien a third success in the race.

O’Brien’s Rip Van Winkle has not won for almost a year and looks a short enough price for the big race of the first day, the Juddmonte International. Byword looks the most likely winner but, at 25-1, there must be value about the Italian raider Jakkalberry (3.25), whose form entitles him to much more respect from the betting market. His trainer, Edmondo Botti, is a former rider who was jocked off in favour of Mick Kinane when Electrocutionist, also trained in Italy, won this race five years ago.

Source – Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

Borderlescott

Trainer Robin Bastiman is confident that the veteran sprinter will be able to go for the Nunthorpe Stakes hat-trick, but admits that he will make a ‘late decision’ next week.

“Everything is OK with him at the moment. He came out of his first canter back on Friday fine and has done another couple this morning,” said Bastiman.

“He seems fine again and having spoken to the owner, we’ve decided to leave him in the confirmations, but it’s going to be a late decision on whether he’s going to run or not.

“He’ll have to have a gallop one day, probably on Tuesday, and if he comes out of that all right, I think he’ll probably run.”

Aiden O’Brien’s Starspangledbanner is going for a hat-trick of his own, having won his last two Group One outings at the Golden Jubilee and July Cup, and is the current 2/1 favourite in the ante-post betting.

Barry Hills’s Equiano remains the closest challenger in the betting and is currently priced at 5/2, with Jeremy Noseda’s Fleeting Spirit and previous winner Kingsgate Native next best at 6/1.

Source – Online Betting & Sports Betting with Betfred – £50 FREE Bet! » Horse Racing Betting