Penworthy

Ripon has a unique sprint course with its undulations, which means that strong course and distance form is always a huge plus when backing a horse there. This is particularly true in a big field such as tomorrow’s William Hill/MND Association Great St Wilfrid Handicap (3.25 p.m.). However, of tomorrow’s 15 runners, no less than five have recorded course and distance wins over tomorrow’s trip of six furlongs. Of these, my preference is for the Nigel Tinkler-trained LORD ROXBY, who won at Ripon as recently as 3 August, beating another of today’s rivals, Dark Cloud Rising, in the process. Dark Cloud Rising has a 5 lb pull at the weights for a one-and-three-quarter length beating and so he will be fancied by many punters to gain revenge, especially given his high draw.

Scottish trainer Iain Jardine knows what it takes to win the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap at York. He landed the race, the UK’s most valuable flat handicap, in 2017 with his then six-year-old gelding Nakeeta. This year Jardine, who trains in Dumfries and Galloway, plans to head back to York with another six-year-old gelding, PADDY THE SQUIRE, who also has a live chance of landing the spoils. Unlike many trainers, Jardine does not have any worries about his horse making the ‘cut’ for the race, which will have a maximum number of 22 runners. With a career high mark of 104, Paddy The Squire is guaranteed a place in the line-up.

The Coral Stewards’ Cup has to be one of the toughest handicaps of the year to solve and tomorrow’s running (Goodwood, 3.35 p.m.) is as open as they come, with a maximum field of 28 runners due to line up for this downhill cavalry charge over six furlongs. The most likely winner is arguably Two Tribes, who won this race last year and who ran such a top prep race for this contest just six days ago when second in the Moet & Chandon International Handicap at Ascot. However, the chances of Two Tribes winning are fairly obvious and he is now a single-figure price. Far Above Dream has a big shout too from stall 23 but he is also a single-figure price and the likely favourite.

Both favourites in the two major races at Ascot tomorrow are going to take a lot of beating if running up to their best form. At the odds on offer, however, neither makes any appeal as a good bet but it is no easy task finding a horse to beat them. The French raider Calandagan will try to win the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (3.35 p.m.) for a second successive year. He needed to be both talented and courageous to wear down the Andrew Balding-trained Kalpana in this race 12 months ago and he will be in his element on the fast ground tomorrow. However, odds of no bigger than 13-8 look skinny enough given the quality of the opposition in this nine-runner Grade 1 contest over a mile and a half.

This weekend’s racing makes no appeal betting wise and so I am instead going to put up three ante-post bets in the hope of landing a big-priced winner for the column over the next month or so. The first bet is in Europe’s richest handicap on the flat, the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap at York on 22 August. This is a race in which Irish maestro Willie Mullins, who won the contest last year with Ethical Diamond, has no less than ten entries. Mullins keeps his cards so close to his chest that I wouldn’t want to bet on which of his horses will run let alone which might win the race. Instead, I prefer the chances of an exposed British trained-runner in DAIQUIRI BAY.

It is so-called ‘Super Saturday’ tomorrow with high-class racing at Newmarket, York and Ascot, and that’s good news for some of the lesser-known jockeys as it means they get an opportunity to ride fancied horses in some of the biggest races. That’s because the likes of Ryan Moore, Oisin Murphy, William Buick, Tom Marquand and Billy Loughnane can only be at one meeting at any one time. Rob Hornby is a hugely talented jockey but he often has to play understudy to Oisin Murphy when it comes to riding trainer Andrew Balding’s best horses. I am hoping Hornby can ride a winner tomorrow when he is reunited with MISS ATTITUDE in the John Smith’s City Walls Stakes (York, 3.12 p.m.).

Some out-of-form sprinters head the market at Sandown tomorrow for the Group 3 Coral Charge (1.50 p.m.). If the likes of Asfoora, Rumstar and Shagraan return to form, they will be tough to beat, but that’s quite a big 'if' given their lacklustre recent racetrack performances. On the face of it, trainer Jack Channon’s GETREADYTORUMBLE also has moderate form this season but he has not had much luck in running in two of his last three starts. Notably, last time out, he reared leaving the stalls, losing several lengths, in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Newcastle stages some quality all-weather racing this weekend, the highlight of which is tomorrow’s JenningsBet Northumberland Plate (3.15 p.m.). As I feared in last week’s column, my main fancy for the race has not made the “cut” and is instead in the consolation race. Cerulean Bay was one of the many eyecatchers at Royal Ascot despite being out of the places There are two main reasons why the quality of this meeting, run on an artificial Tapeta surface, is particularly high this year. Firstly, the generous level of prize money – the Plate, for example, is worth more than £77,000 to winning connections. Secondly, a lot of trainers whose horses prefer soft ground are observing the current heatwave and concluding a race on the all-weather is better than no run at all.

Newmarket handler James Tate has his string in sparkling form and he doesn’t waste bullets by sending horses to Royal Ascot unless they have a chance of winning. Tate has enjoyed six winners from 19 runners over the past fortnight for a winning strike rate of 32 per cent. His only runner so far this week at Royal Ascot, Blue Rc, was second in the Royal Hunt Cup at 28-1 to a well-handicapped horse in Rogue Diplomat. Tate doesn’t waste bullets by sending horses to Royal Ascot unless they have a chance of winning I think his horse, DARN HOT GALLOP has a big chance today of winning the Sandringham Stakes (5 p.m.). She is three wins from four races, her only defeat coming when she was outclassed in the Betfred 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in early May.

Royal Ascot gets underway at 2.30 p.m. today with the Queen Anne Stakes, a fascinating Group 1 race over the straight mile. DOCKLANDS did this column a good turn this time last year when winning this contest after being put up at 25-1. Although he is not going to be anything like those odds this time, I am going to stay loyal to this likeable six-year-old. Admittedly this year’s contest is a hotter event than a year ago and the likes of Notable Speech, Opera Ballo and More Thunder are officially rated superior to trainer Harry Eustace’s course specialist. However, Docklands overcame both a slow start and his rider dropping his whip in last year’s race, and he comes into the meeting in good form.

Race meetings at courses including York, Sandown and Chester offer decent fare for horse racing enthusiasts this weekend but many will already be looking forward to Royal Ascot’s five-day extravaganza beginning on Tuesday. York, in particular, stages some competitive handicaps tomorrow including the 22-runner Churchill Tyres Supporting Macmillan Sprint Handicap (3.35 p.m.) over a distance of six furlongs. Ed Walker’s Golden Brown, who is a nice ride for an apprentice, looks overpriced for this contest. The three-year-old gelding has been slowly getting better with racing, finally scoring on his ninth run when victorious at Salisbury last month from a poor draw.

With the modern-day racehorse increasingly bred for speed, it is likely that several of tomorrow’s runners at Epsom in the Betfred Derby (4 p.m.) will not truly stay the race distance of a mile and a half. The fact that this year’s contest is going to be run with plenty of cut in the ground means that, unless there is an unusually slow pace, it will take a proper three-year-old staying colt to win this prestigious Grade 1 race. After his 1-2-3 in the French Derby last weekend, Irish maestro Aidan O’Brien is the likeliest trainer to win tomorrow’s Classic with one of his four runners, but most realistically with either Benvenuto Cellini or Pierre Bonnard.

Trainer Ed Walker has long had a high opinion of CELANDINE so it was disappointing to see her miss the break on her seasonal debut in a listed race over six furlongs at Newmarket earlier this month. Given her tardy start, her run when fifth behind Flora of Bermuda showed she still has talent and there could be more to come this season as the horse, a former winner of the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York as a two-year-old, is still only four years old. Tomorrow Celandine will have her favourable fast ground conditions but it will be even more important that she gets away sharply as the listed Betway Achilles Stakes (Carlisle 2.33 p.m.) is over the minimum trip of five furlongs.

Newmarket-based Robert Cowell is known as the ‘sprint king’ for a reason: for many years he has been a masterful trainer of horses that race over the minimum trips of five furlongs and six furlongs. It was telling that in an interview for his Racing Post Weekender stable tour last week, he indicated he would rather train another winner of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot – now the King Charles III Stakes – than the Epsom Derby. The King’s Stand is a race that he won in 2011 with Prohibit but it’s probably fair to say that every other trainer in the country would much prefer a Derby winner on their CV.

MORE THUNDER was one of last season’s most improved flat horses, starting off as a moderate handicapper officially rated at 87 and finishing up, after four victories, with a lofty rating of 117. At Newbury tomorrow, he steps up in distance to a mile for the first time when he is pitched into tough Grade 1 company in the Boyle Sports Lockinge Stakes (2.35 p.m.). Five of the ten runners in the contest have higher ratings than him and several of those at the top of the market also have the benefit of a prep run.

Tony Martin, the shrewd Irish trainer, loves to take aim at today’s Ladbrokes Chester Cup and its consolation race and I can see his three runners in the two races making their mark. Back Peaky Blinder 1 point each way at 8-1 with bet365, paying five places. ZANNDABAD has not won on the flat for three seasons but he is down to a nice mark of 91 in the Chester Cup (3.05 p.m.). He ran a huge race in this contest in 2024 when third to Zoffee after meeting trouble in running from his double-figure draw in stall 10. Today he is only marginally better drawn in stall 9 but we know he handles the track and the good ground, plus Clifford Lee is an interesting jockey booking too.

Trainer George Boughey is convinced that his horse Bow Echo has a big chance of landing tomorrow’s Betfred 2000 Guineas (Newmarket, 3.35 p.m.) after a ‘faultless’ preparation. This unbeaten three-year-old colt is a course and distance winner who is proven on fast ground so he is going to take a lot of beating in the first classic of the 2026 flat season. Irish handler Aidan O’ Brien’s only runner Gstaad is officially the highest-rated horse in the 15-runner field and, with Ryan Moore in the saddle, he also looks likely to run a big race in which the first prize for winning connections is nearly £300,000. Gstaad was heavily backed yesterday meaning he and Bow Echo are now vying for favouritism in this one-mile contest.

It is disappointing that Sandown’s big handicap chase tomorrow, the bet365 Gold Cup (3.30 p.m.), has attracted a field of only 14 runners but this is an intriguing race nonetheless with several improving seven-year-olds taking on some older, more experienced horses. LIVIN ON LUCO has run four times this season, three of them good performances The younger generation are well represented at the top of the market with seven-year-old geldings Havaila, Montregard, Ask Brewster and the Irish raider Road To Home all having big chances of landing the first prize of just under £100,000. My marginal preference is for two eight-year-olds from two in-form British yards.

The respective favourites have won this year’s Boyle Sports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse and the Randox Grand National at Aintree, and that trend could well continue at Ayr tomorrow in the Coral Scottish Grand National (3.35 p.m.) The forecast favourite tomorrow is the Irish-trained raider Kim Roque, who comes here off the back of a big run at the Cheltenham Festival last month, with fourth in the Rosconn Group Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup. However, odds of no bigger than 5-1 are skinny enough in this 21-runner contest for a first prize of more than £112,000. Last weekend’s marathon contest at Aintree proved that few chasers truly stay four miles or more. There were plenty of horses in with a chance two fences out who clearly did not last home.

The whole nature of the Randox Grand National (Aintree, tomorrow 4 p.m.) has changed significantly in recent years and it is not just about the fences becoming smaller and safer. A race that once favoured horses below 11 stone in the weights now favours the classier horses that are carrying more than 11 stone. Here are just two statistics that rather prove that point. In 2005, Hedgehunter became the first horse since Corbiere 22 years earlier to carry more than 11 stone to victory in this famous, marathon handicap chase. However, in the last two years of the race, since the maximum number of runners was reduced from 40 to 34, only one horse has finished in the first four with less than 11 stone.