The Victoria Cup headlines a fiercely competitive card at Ascot and Saturday. In-house tipster Joe Napier has picked out his four best bets among the card on the day for you to follow.
1.30 Ascot – Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% Handicap
Gary & Josh Moore’s Kotari looks to back up a 10-length victory at Salisbury just six days ago, but the quick turnaround, change of surface, and altogether tougher contest he faces here may combine to make that a tricky task. An interesting alternative is MASO BASTIE on his second run for Michael Bell. He won on his seasonal debut last term, and even though his most recent turf run was a level below his all-weather efforts last summer, he won on Nottingham’s grass on soft at this time a year ago. His mark of 84 is the lowest he has run off in handicap company to date, and his first run for Bell was promising enough at Kempton in November.
2.05 Ascot – Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% British EBF Fillies’ Handicap
Despite getting 13lb from their elders, three-year-old fillies don’t have a great record in this race, with just one winner from that demographic in the last ten runnings. Outsider Farhh To Shy won this last year and could spring a surprise again but ZOUZANNA is worthy for her current position as favourite and could well be too good for them.
The daughter of Zoustar won on her first start last season, so there should be no fitness concerns, while she also took victory on her only start at Ascot to date. That was over 7f in September, but strongly hinted she will be fine over 1m. She nearly followed her Ascot win up with another at Newmarket, and her disappointing end to the season can be safely blamed on the ground being too slow. She could easily still have room to progress off her mark of 84.
2.40 Ascot – Lavazza & Ascot 10 Year Anniversary Victoria Cup
Another Michael Bell outsider to consider comes in the big handicap of the day, the Victoria Cup, run over 7f. His Irish import CARRYTHEONE may already be seven years old, but remained full of life last season and there was enough promise in his return run at Newmarket too.
The son of Lope De Vega was placed at Listed level last season, and improved from his seasonal return to his second start fairly markedly, finishing fourth in a Group 3 after being only mid-division in a big Curragh handicap. His first run for Bell saw him finish only ninth of 15 at Newmarket, but that race showed a notable pace bias, with Carrytheone actually the first home of those described as “held up” or “towards rear”.
He gets to race here off a mark of 101, his lowest since winning a handicap in 2020 off 97, primarily because he was on the cusp of Pattern quality for Johnny Murtagh. If enough of that spark remains, he is massively overpriced.
3.45 Ascot – Carey Group Handicap
This 1m2f handicap features eight horses who may be progressive enough, but towards the bottom of the weights, TOO BOSSY FOR US has the most attractive profile of the bunch. He is a Golden Horn half-brother to a Listed winner in France for Andre Fabre and is almost certainly crying out for this step up in trip from 1m, over which he has run on his first three starts.
He was sixth and eighth as a juvenile behind two winners who have gone on to claim recognised Listed Derby trials this term and reappeared himself with a staying on third after having to navigate an awkward passage at Kempton. He now faces a further distance which his stamina-laden pedigree determines he needs and an opening mark of 76 might not stop him.
ITV Racing Tips: Four Picks For Ascot And Lingfield On Saturday
There’s a bumper afternoon of action on ITV Racing on Saturday afternoon with eight races taking place at Ascot, Lingfield and Haydock and it’s the two Flat meetings we focus on with this week’s ITV Racing Tips column, Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews the action and has FOUR selections for the racing on the…
Fri 10 May 2024
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