Newmarket’s July meeting rolls on to Friday, with day two containing seven more highly competitive heats. GG tipster Joe Napier has focuses on the handicaps, with his four best Friday bets including a 25/1 shot…
1.50 Newmarket (July) – bet365 Handicap
The Doncaster novice King’s Charter won is a useful bit of form and he is an obvious eyecatcher for Godolphin. However, he is straight in as the top-weight here against some rivals with serious handicap form already in the books, none more so than URBAN GLIMPSE, who is surely a winner in waiting.
A son of Group 1 winner Cityscape, he is not as obviously blue-blooded as some of his contemporaries, but he is putting in fine work on the track. A victory at Kempton last season is his only one to date, but he has twice been second this season, first behind luckless Royal Ascot favourite Sing Us A Song at Sandown and then by half-a-length at York behind subsequent scorer Dante’s Lad.
The fourth that day at York has also won since and Urban Glimpse has only crept slightly up the handicap. He will surely be winning races off a mark of 86 or similar soon, so while this is another tough assignment, he should go very well for a yard that is bang in form.
3.00 Newmarket – bet365 Trophy
It’s worth giving another chance here to LIARI, who is a big price, but one worth taking advantage of in this open 1m6f handicap. He still has untapped potential at the distance.
The five-year-old was a decent juvenile hurdler for Paul Nicholls in 2023/24 and maintained a half-decent level handicapping over hurdles the season just gone. However, after switching to Michael Bell for a term on the flat, he bolted in by five lengths on the Rowley Mile track in May on his first start on the level in Britain.
Up 7lb, he faded to be tailed off in the Ascot Stakes over 2m4f at the royal meeting, but that being an extremely competitive race over a much longer trip likely put paid to him. Back over a more reasonable distance, his Rowley Mile win suggested he has another win in him.
4.45 Newmarket (July) – Dubai Racing Club Handicap
Although he was ultimately a disappointment at Royal Ascot, BRAVE MISSION is worth siding with down in class, as he will likely prove better than a mark of 91. He is by Frankel from a very strong family, so the potential is there for all to see.
He took three starts to get off the mark at two, but did so well at Kempton and was only beaten by a progressive rival at Ascot over 7f on his return. Upped to 1m for the Britannia Stakes, he was only 13th of 30, but any number of well-handicapped rivals were up against him that day and that is not the case in this contest.
He is back to his season-opening mark of 91, as well as down to 7f once again. That combination of factors could make him a warm order here if he finds any natural progression, as he is still lightly-raced and capable of better.
5.20 Newmarket (July) – debenhams.com Handicap
Having previously been a crossbar-hitter, NOGO’S DREAM has discovered how to win on turf on the last two occasions he’s been in the handicap and among a field which generally has questions to answer, he looks a solid bet to go in again.
The five-year-old recorded eight runner-up efforts on his first 16 turf starts without victory. However, a win at Windsor under Oisin Murphy in May has provided a catalyst, as he ran well on the all-weather next time out, and scored again at Windsor at the end of June. In between, he was racing out of the weights in the Epsom Dash.
The nature of his victories, in which he has strongly seen out the 5f trip, suggests he has learned plenty from winning. Though Murphy is not aboard this time, Ryan Moore is arguably an upgrade in the saddle, and won aboard the horse on Chelmsford’s all-weather track in April.
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