For one hour every day of the fesitval at the Knavesmire we’ll be offering bigger prices on selected horses in most of the day’s races.

Come back between 12:30 and 13:30 to take advantage of our generosity during the William Hill enhanced odds Happy Hours.

View full post on William Hill News | horse-racing

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

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.

View full post on Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

Richard Hughes

View full post on Online Betting & Sports Betting with Betfred – £50 FREE Bet! » Horse Racing Betting

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.

View full post on William Hill News | horse-racing

View full post on Online Betting & Sports Betting with Betfred – £50 FREE Bet! » Horse Racing Betting

Harbinger’s injury means the Arc still eludes Sir Michael Stoute, who has had many classy runners in 38 years as a trainer

“Stoute’s Arc curse strikes again” was the headline over many reports about Harbinger’s injury on the gallops last weekend. I must have missed the meeting where the racing media conferred official “cursed” status on Sir Michael Stoute’s record in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Presumably it was before Harbinger, because a curse has to strike at least once before it can be said to strike again.

Never mind. In light of what happened to Harbinger, there can be no doubt, even among those of us who reject superstition, that the trainer has been spilling a lot of salt, breaking many mirrors, has angered some evil spirit or is perhaps up against the fixed will of the racing gods themselves. The next time one of his horses has a recognisable chance in the French race but fails to win, the curse headlines will be everywhere, and rightly so.

Consider his record in other top-class middle-distance races. He has won the Derby, the Eclipse, the King George, the Juddmonte International and the Coronation Cup five times each. He is also a multiple winner of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Champion Stakes and the Oaks.

Outside Britain, he has won the Japan Cup, the Hong Kong Vase, the Dubai World Cup, the Canadian International, the Irish Derby, the Irish Oaks, the Irish Champion Stakes, the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Grosser Preis von Baden, with more than one success in several of those. He has racked up four victories in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

How is it possible that a man can produce enough talent to win all that international glory and the vast quantities of prize money that come with it, yet he can’t manage a single, solitary success in the Arc?

The race is the most prestigious in Europe, of course, but it has not presented an insurmountable challenge to British-based trainers. It has fallen to Ian Balding, Barry Hills, Jeremy Tree, Guy Harwood, Michael Jarvis and, three times, to Saeed bin Suroor. Clive Brittain came within a neck of winning it, Marcus Tregoning within three-quarters of a length. Those are all fine trainers but you would imagine there are few races they could crack which Stoute could not.

Reportedly, the trainer believes his best chance came and went with Shernazar, Shergar’s half-brother who finished unplaced behind Sagace and Rainbow Quest in 1985, having suffered terrible trouble in running.

Below, I’ve listed the last five Stoute-trained horses to finish in the first four in the Arc. That means we’re missing out horses like Islington and North Light, that ran well without making it into the first four, as well as Opera House and Shahrastani from longer ago. It’s interesting to see how dependent Stoute has been on the produce of the late Lord Weinstock’s Ballymacoll Stud, without which he wouldn’t have had a horse in the first four for 16 years.

1) Ezzoud, 4th in 1994

Despite having won an Eclipse and two York Internationals, Ezzoud was supposed to be a bit of a rogue who wouldn’t put it all in. Blinkered or visored for most races, he had managed to unseat Walter Swinburn as they came out of the stalls for the King George.

Now five and having his last race in Europe, Ezzoud tracked the pace on the inside and seemed well placed at the top of the straight, with the pack closing on the tiring Broadway Flyer. There was a brief moment when Ezzoud may have had a share of the lead but, from that point, other challengers proved stronger (or, if you believe his reputation, more resolute).

Apple Tree moved up his inside, while Carnegie and Hernando swooped past up the middle of the track. Ezzoud plugged on to be a close fourth, beaten three-quarters of a length at 19-1.

2) Pilsudski, 2nd in 1996

One of those “classic Stoute improvers” people talk about, Pilsudski was confined to handicap company as a three-year-old and didn’t get his first chance in a Group One until the month before this Arc, when he won the Grosser Preis von Baden. Unfancied at 22-1, he tracked the winner, Helissio, throughout the race but looked outclassed when that one shot clear in the straight.

Pilsudski got tired close home but held on for second place. Those behind included Swain, Shaamit and Pentire.

3) Pilsudski, 2nd in 1997

A year later, Pilsudski had three more Group One wins to his name, including a Breeders’ Cup triumph, and was a much more respectable 4-1. Once again, however, he ran up against a brilliant winner. Peintre Celebre quickened away to win by five lengths.

Mick Kinane rode Pilsudski with more restraint than Swinburn had the year before but the horse was travelling beautifully and ahead of the winner until the turn for home, when Peintre Celebre whistled past. Pilsudski finished clear of the pack this time, with Helissio and Swain comfortably held. It was the horse’s last defeat, as he closed out his career by winning the Champion Stakes and the Japan Cup.

4) Golan, 4th in 2001

The 2,000 Guineas winner, Golan had been well beaten by Galileo in the English and Irish Derbys. Still, he shored up his reputation in time for the Arc by winning the Prix Niel over the course and distance three weeks before and was sent off at 15-2.

He tried gamely under Kieren Fallon but struggled to see out the trip on soft going. He made it to second early in the straight but never looked able to match Sakhee, a runaway winner, and lost two places close home.

5) Conduit, 4th in 2009

The horse who finally won Stoute a St Leger, Conduit had also won a Breeders’ Cup Turf and a King George. That’s an impressive roll call of major races but Conduit was still an 8-1 shot for the Arc because he was up against Sea The Stars. He had trailed John Oxx’s runner by five lengths in the Eclipse and few believed he could turn it around.

For much of the race he ran alongside Sea The Stars but took longer to pick up after the turn for home and took a tougher route around the outside of the pack. By the time the line came, he was running on strongly and could have gone past Youmzain and Cavalryman in a few more strides. Sea The Stars, meanwhile, had won by an easy couple of lengths.

View full post on Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

View full post on Online Betting & Sports Betting with Betfred – £50 FREE Bet! » Horse Racing Betting

• Phoenix Stakes win was Aidan O’Brien’s 11th in 13 runnings
• Fame And Glory makes winning return in Royal Whip

Aidan O’Brien had a day to remember in a season that, by his high standards, has largely been one to forget at the Curragh today after Zoffany replaced Strong Suit as the new favourite for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket with a surprise victory in the Phoenix Stakes and Fame And Glory confirmed his position as favourite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with a bloodless victory over two stablemates.

The highly regarded Strong Suit went off the 4-9 favourite on the strength of his eye-catching Royal Ascot victory in the Coventry Stakes, with Zoffany back in sixth, but he could only manage third with Glor Na Mara just edging him out as the winner squeezed between that pair close to home to win by a cosy half a length.

The winner was held up at the back and was forced to brush past stable companion Snow Mountain once that runner was eased off the rails to let him through.

Strong Suit, unlike at Ascot where he was held up and caught many punters’ attention with his late charge, was prominent early and had every chance in the closing stages. He is either not as good as his trainer Richard Hannon, who has dominated races for two-year-olds this campaign, believes or he ideally needs holding up to be seen at his best.

O’Brien, who was recording his 11th success from the last 13 runnings of the Group One contest, said: “He [Zoffany] went to Ascot as a baby and it all happened a little bit too fast for him. We stepped him up in trip so things would happen a bit slower. The plan was to get him relaxed and Johnny [Murtagh] was very cool on him and gave him a great ride.

“He’s getting heavier all of the time and he’s a lot stronger and more mature now. As long as he keeps putting on weight we’ll keep going with him. We’ll take it one step at a time but the National Stakes [at the Curragh on 11 September] looks a likely option.”

Richard Hannon Jr said of the vanquished favourite: “We’ll bring him home and get him scoped but we’re not making any excuses.”

William Hill now make Zoffany, who has won his last three races, the new 8-1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas in May. Strong Suit, who had previously held top spot in the ante-post betting for the Newmarket Classic, is out to 10-1 (from 5′s) with the same firm.

Zoffany’s win was the third leg of a treble for O’Brien. Spin won the opener and the 1-12 shot Fame And Glory won the Royal Whip Stakes though it was not in the style many expected.

He beat stablemate and pacemaker Dixie Music, one of the winner’s “friends” as O’Brien described him in advance, by three and a half lengths but the trainer must surely have had the winner some way off his peak as the second would not get within 25 lengths of Fame And Glory if the latter was at his best.

O’Brien said: “It’s good to get him back on a good start again as we gave him a mid-season break. His next run could be in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown or the Arc trial at Longchamp. After that we’ll have a look at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He has progressed well all season and his performance here in the Tattersalls Stakes [in May] was very good.”

Fame And Glory remains the clear favourite for the Arc at around 3-1, odds he contracted to following Saturday’s untimely news about Harbinger.

The trainer Dandy Nicholls demonstrated his prowess with sprinters once again when last year’s Haydock Sprint Cup victor Regal Parade outbattled Joanna to win his second Group One prize in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.

His son Adrian, who rode Regal Parade, said: “I was a bit worried passing the furlong marker but my fellow has such a big heart and gave it his all at the finish. I’m not sure if there’s anything for him beforehand but he’ll definitely go back to Haydock for the Sprint Cup [4 September]. After that we might look at the Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs.”

View full post on Sport: Horse racing | guardian.co.uk

Harbinger

View full post on Online Betting & Sports Betting with Betfred – £50 FREE Bet! » Horse Racing Betting