Sport is made for betting

YORK Day 1 I love this meeting, on a big, wide open track. None of this up, down and loop-the-loop rubbish like at Goodwood. Best of all, it's less of a bloody rip-off too. I can't make it this year unfortunately but if you've never been - put it on your list. It is a wonderful track, especially at the Ebor meeting. Remember this is a World Pool meeting, so get on board with the Tote for the enormous pools, especially in the exotics. R1 1350 Sky Bet and Symphony Group Handicap So let's kick off with a nice, easy 22 runner sprint! 9/1 the field at time of writing so obviously cases to be made for many. Line up a couple and don't go overboard in the first of 28 races for the meeting. Dakota Gold won this race off 104 back in the pre-pandemic era in 2019. Last year he tried his luck in the Nunthorpe and wasn't disgraced, now he's back to big handicap level which is ideal for him. He has won six from 12 at York, and his jockey Connor Beasley is king of the spri

Very excited to be heading along to the final day of the Royal meeting - see the Wokingham preview for the reason why... R1 14.30 Chesham Alfred Munnings has been the big Ballydoyle certainty of the week for a while as you can see by the price. It hasn't been the greatest week for the stable, just two winners out of 14 so far (Tues-Thurs) and both of those were favourites (2 winners/4 favs overall). Can't see him being turned over but Alzahir, Crypto Force or One World might fill the frame. R2 15.05 Jersey Good spread of 3yos here over 7f, converging from a wide range of formlines. I like one down the bottom, Star Girls Aalmal for Irish dual code trainer Henry de Bromhead. This filly should have run second in the Irish 1000 Guineas after being chopped off by the dominant winner Homeless Songs, but the pair she finished alongside (and should have been in front of) were Tuesday and Concert Hall, who then finished first and fourth in the Oaks. Before that, she'd won two in a

Unsurprising that day three went awry on the punt after feeling a dangerous level of confidence in the morning. When the first one just about gets knocked down with zero protection from the stewards, the clouds of doom were moving into position...  Fairly quick on the form study for day four, saving myself for being on track on Saturday! R1 14.30 Albany 18 fillies entered here for the 6f Group 3 race for 2yo fillies, those not quite good/speedy enough for the Queen Mary yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the market is dominated by a Coolmore and a Godolphin filly followed by one from Amo Racing. And pretty handy fillies they are too. But that's not where the value lies.   Powerdress won early in the season, defeating the very speedy Yahsat at Newmarket on debut. That filly was backed heavily yesterday in the QM (16/1 into 15/2) and while she only finished midfield, her lead-up runs justified the support.  So Powerdress it is. Prefer Mawj of the favourites pair, while Beautiful Aisling,

 Wednesday regressed to the norm but today looks a much nicer betting card. R1 14.30 Norfolk Stakes Another exciting 2yo race, this time over the five furlongs. Another Amo Racing flyer heads the market, this time Walbank , who destroyed a small field at York last time. He looked great but I'm not sure what he beat. The runner-up was a distant second behind Miami Girl at his previous start and that horse only ran fifth in the Queen Mary yesterday. On debut he ran second to the highly promising Noble Style here. He deserves to be high in the market but 7/4? Leave me out of that. Aidan O'Brien's team have not been firing this week (cue them to land with all five entries today!), and the heavily-punted Little Big Bear only scraped in yesterday when a very strong fav. Might have to swerve The Antarctic as well. One I did the like the look of was Brave Nation . He won eased down by 6L at Doncaster on debut, there's more up his sleeve for sure. Pillow Talk is another of the

What an opening day! Bradsell showed his class in the Coventry then Nature Strip humiliated his rivals in the King's Stand. What a flying machine! Maljoom had no luck in the St James's Palace, while Cleveland took a while to get clear and looked to have those around him covered, but the winner kicked on the rail and couldn't be caught. A very good day which wasn't far off being a bloody marvellous day. The sun's out, proper flat racing ground, what's not to like about it? Onto day two. Not a day to be going crazy - A - I always find it hard to put as much time into the second and third days of a big meeting as I do the first, and was in attendance yesterday which made it even harder, and B - it looks a harder card. R1 - 14.30 Queen Mary This is a handy collection of fillies with two obvious favourites in Dramatised , an impressive winner on debut at Newmarket (and will also be ridden by Danny Tudhope who won the last two races on Tues), and Love Reigns , a US fi

ROYAL ASCOT Tuesday Brief summaries of each race rather than full detail. R1 - 14.30 Queen Anne Stakes Baaeed just wins. This is the closest thing we've seen to Frankel since he destroyed his rivals in this race a decade ago. He'll sit just behind them and go whooshka with a couple of furlongs to go. Hard track will suit him just fine, won the QEII Stakes here on Champions Day and resumed a month ago in the Lockinge, beating his main rivals today in the process. Will only be fitter for that. Getting smashed in the betting already as punters target the favs acca on day one. For place money, don't discount the old boy Accidental Agent . He won this race back in 2018 (at 33/1), and recorded his best RPR since that day in the Victoria Cup handicap, carrying topweight here over 7f. Currently 14/1 w/o Baaeed. Throw in Chindit and Lights On if playing the tris. R2 - 15.05 Coventry Stakes A cracking contest for the juveniles. Favourites have been known to dominate in the past with

Finishing off a massive weekend of racing is the French equivalent of the Derby, the Prix du Jockey Club in the beautiful surrounds of Chantilly. It's on the bucket list as a race meeting to get to, one day I'll finally get there! It's a very different test to Epsom and French races are often run quite differently in terms of pace, without a declared pacemaker to create a true staying test. Local trainers have won 13 of the past 16 runnings of the race, but Gosden & O'Brien have won the past two, adding to the intrigue. ================================= PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB Group 1, 3yo colts and fillies, 2100m €1,500,000 Chantilly, Sunday 1600 local, 1500 BST, 0000 AEST Expected Going - Good (souple) 1. Vadeni - Rouget/Soumillon/Aga Khan combination which is hard to top in France. Easy winner of the Prix de Guiche here last start after a soft run first-up in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleu at Longchamp. While he was untroubled in the Prix Guiche, the depth of form is a

After a thrilling finish in today's Oaks, it's onto the Derby and hopefully better luck after a day that could be best described as being afflicted by 'seconditis'!  There's more than a spot of rain on the way in the morning so it's worth holding steady until we see what effect it has on the racing surface. That said, there are few with black marks against them for poor runs in the wet, so it's much of an unknown for most of them. So long as we don't end up with the slippery track debacle we had at several venues last weekend! This year's race will run in memory of the greatest jockey of all time, Lester Piggott, who run the Derby a record nine times. ========================== CAZOO DERBY (in memory of Lester Piggott) 3yo colts and fillies, Group 1, 1m4f6yds £1,406,000 Epsom Downs, Saturday 1630 local, 0130 Sunday AEST Expected going: Good My prices assessed to 100% 1. Changingoftheguard -  A maiden in three starts as a 2yo, he has won his last two