Richard Hoiles: 4 Friday picks for Ascot, York and Chepstow

27 Jul

Richard Hoiles

The racing broadcaster has two fancies for the first day of the King George Weekend at Ascot, plus two other selections at York and Chepstow.

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With most of the goodies reserved for Saturday and an unsettled forecast, Ascot’s Friday card may be a slightly subdued affair.

ASCOT SELECTIONS

Hopefully, though, it can still throw up a couple of decent betting opportunities, starting with GAASSEE . A progressive stayer last season, he was sent off favourite for last year’s Ebor but fluffed his lines, finishing last of the 20. The interesting angle of his appearance here is that he may need the 4lb penalty for winning this in order to guarantee lining up for a repeat Ebor bid 12 months on. He handles cut in the ground well and could outclass his rivals (Ascot, 15:35).

Earlier on in the day, MAHARAJA’S EXPRESS steps up in trip and has his first run on turf (Ascot, 15:00). He met a lot of trouble two starts ago at Kempton before looking all at sea coming round the bend at Lingfield. The stable of Richard Spencer ended a losing run of 45 recently and look to have turned the corner with two further successes in recent days. With excuses on both his runs in handicaps, he could well go off over the odds.

YORK AND CHEPSTOW

Away from Ascot, there is a decent card at York where BOX TO BOX looks the most interesting horse of the meeting (York, 19:50). A runner up at Chester on soft ground on his last start, the form of that race has been franked by the third horse, Mr Curiosity, lowering the colours of odds-on favourite Chillingham in the Ripon Bell Ringer. He can get a good tow into the race off Jean Baptiste and is ridden for the first time by Oisin Murphy.

Whenever it rains, I always seek out the progeny of Fast Company, particularly if they have yet to encounter the soft and heavy ground conditions on which they seem to excel. STAMFORD BLUE has never raced on ground worse than good and, having run respectably enough in a similar race at Bath on Wednesday, is worth an investment if allowed to take his chance (Chepstow, 18:15).

JOCKEYS FOR COURSES

These three all have good records at tracks where they are riding on Friday, boasting significantly more winners than the prices of their horses suggest they should have done (par for actual/expected winners = 1.00).