The tipsters’ table, York Races, Friday, May 13, 2016

Who's tipping what: scroll horizontally to see all the picks

Tipster/ race	Dick Turpin	Sun	Mirror	Times	The Guardian	Daily Mail	At The Races	GG.com
2.20pm	Udontdodou	Curtain Call	Just That Lord	Just That Lord	Just That Lord	Just That Lord	Udontdodou	Paddy Power
2.55pm	Boater (NB)	Twizzell	Stormy Clouds	Boater	Amlak	Stormy Clouds	Boater	Stormy Clouds
3.30pm	Nemoralia	Thetis	Thetis	Thetis (nb)	Nemoralia	Thetis	Nemoralia	Nemoralia
4.05pm	Clever Cookie (Nap)	Second Step	Flying Officer	Curbyourenthusiasm	Flying Officer	Clever Cookie	Second Step	Flying Officer
4.40pm	Top Tug	Barsanti (nap)	Croquembouche	Innocent Touch	Barsanti	Fire Fighting	Oasis Fantasy	Barsanti
5.10pm	Azagal	Secret Hint	Azagal	Azagal	Azagal	Secret Hint	Azagal	Lavetta
5.40pm	Gawdawpalin	West Drive	Nietzsche	Walsingham Grange	West Drive	West Drive	West Drive	Second Serve

Day Two of the Dante meeting was another brilliant day for YorkMix tipster Dick Turpin.

In the seven-race card, our favourite highwayman selected three first-choice winners, all at juicy odds: Beautiful Romance (5/1), Easton Angel (100/30) and Admiralty Arch (14/1).

But that’s not all, the masked man included two Longshot selection winners, scoring at decent prices: Duke of Firenze (10/1) and Wings of Desire (9/1).

He was last seen heading towards the Pig And Pastry in Bishy Road, wheeling the barrowloads of cash he extricated (legally) from the bookies’ satchels.

So, what does Tip-top tipster Turpin reckon for the final day of the meeting?

Turpin writes:

You won’t hear me say this often, as I am not known as a cautious man. Not that I am superstitious, but it will be hard to pick a single winner from this Friday the 13th card.

So I shall be saving most of my hard-earned winnings from the first two days at Knavesmire, and wagering very modestly indeed.

In the second race (2.55), I love the look of both Mark Johnston’s Boater and Richard Hannon’s Stormy Clouds, and can’t see anything else breaking them up.

Boater gets the vote on the strength of her impressive Kempton debut win in March, but Stormy Clouds is a likely improver and will make this a real thriller.

Flying Officer and Second Step will be all the rage for the 4.05, but I am relying on the addition of headgear to Clever Cookie to do the trick and bring Danny Tudhope home at a decent price.

But remember, after the thrill of the Musidora and the Dante, Friday is definitely a much more local affair, and caution is advised.

“Come on, Turps, aren’t you going to stick your neck out a bit? Sorry, a bit insensitive, I could have phrased that better. – Ed.”

All right, all right, I wasn’t going to say anything.

But I have heard a little whisper from the Johnston yard that the consistent Fire Fighting (4.40) is ready to atone for a modest performance at Chester, and will bounce back to form, even though he’s carrying top weight in a very competitive 12-furlong handicap.

But with Frankie Dettori aboard, he could represent the long-odds value of the day.

The tipsters’ table, York Races, Thursday, May 12, 2016

Who's tipping what: scroll horizontally to see all the picks

Tipster/ race	Dick Turpin	Sun	Mirror	Times	The Guardian	Daily Mail	At The Races	GG.com
2.10pm	Brando	Shamshon	Arctic Feeling	Desert Law	Royal Birth (nb)	Red Baron	Brando	Brando
2.40pm	Beautiful Romance	Journey	Speedy Boarding	Crystal Zvezda	Journey (nap)	Journey	Journey	Journey
3.15pm	Midterm (NB)	Victory Bond	Midterm	Midterm (nb)	Deauville	Midterm	Midterm	Midterm
3.45pm	Third Time Lucky	Lord Of The Land	Alfred Hutchinson	Master The World	Donncha	Third Time Lucky	Express Himself	Third Time Lucky
4.15pm	Rah Rah	Areen	Rah Rah	Lady Macapa	Lady Macapa	Areen	Exist	Exist
4.45pm	Admiralty Arch	Gulliver	Masham Star	Masham Star	Tafaakhor	Tafaakhor	Thornton	Tafaakhor
5.20pm	Alphabetical Order (Nap)	Alphabetical Order	Hidden Justice	Sisyphus	Alphabetical Order	Alphabetrical Order	Cardinal Walter	Matorico

So, how did Turpin do on Day One of the Dante meeting?

The old highwayman was last seen strolling purposefully away from Knavesmire in search of somewhere to stash his gains.

As ever with the old boy, his Longshots performed very well indeed. Bolstered by the fact that both his Nap and Next Best selections won too.

In the first, Nayel (Turpin’s longshot) trotted up at a healthy 12/1, just pipping his main selection Pacify into second.

See The Sun, (Turpin’s e.w. choice in the second race) obliged at a very healthy 9/1, and the highwayman’s moneybags were starting to bulge, ladies!

His confident selections in the third and fourth (Next Best and Nap) did the business, thanks to Frankie Dettori, Magical Memory storming home at 5/2, and the Oaks contender, So Mi Dar, winning at a tighter 4/5.

Fifth race selection Monteverdi made the frame at 13/2, while the e.w. choice, Castle Harbour won at 9/2. In the sixth, the selection (Logi, at a generous 9/1) managed third place.

And in the final event, his Longshot, Two Jabs, made the frame at very pleasing 16/1, real value for e.w. backers, in a race won by Turpin’s second selection, Appeared at 5/1.

All in all, a tremendous first day. We can’t expect this performance every time, but if you bump into the mystery man the drinks are definitely on him.

Day 2 tips

All eyes will be on Derby favourite Midterm today for the feature race of the meeting, the Betfred Dante Stakes (3.15).

A comfortable win over a mile at Newbury last term caught the eye as the offspring of Galileo left 16 rivals in his wake. The step up to ten furlongs, today’s distance, at Sandown proved little trouble last month and augurs well for his Knavesmire debut.

It’s hard to see anything getting in the way of Sir Michael Stoute’s charge, with Deauville (Moore/O’Brien) and Foundation (Buick/Gosden) the main threats in a contest that should be run at a true pace.

YorkMix tipster Dick Turpin has heard good reports of Gosden’s other runner, Wings of Desire (Dettori). The Pivotal offspring looks the each-way / longshot value.

You’ll have to stay to the last race (5.20) for Turpin’s bet of the day. Alphabetical Order is the Tudhope-O’Meara hope for a four-timer, and our favourite highwayman makes it a confident choice.

The biggest cheer would come if old Knavesmire favourite Alfred Hutchinson could repeat last year’s triumph in the Hambleton Stakes (3.45). The mile contest looks a tough ask for the 14-1 shot this time; but that’s what everyone thought last year when he was 20-1!

David Nolan would have to extract every last ounce of courage from the eight-year-old to get past Third Time Lucky, Hors De Combat, and Always Smile, who Turpin expects to see battling it out close home.

The tipsters’ table, York Races, Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Who's tipping what: scroll horizontally to see all the picks

Tipster/ race	Dick Turpin	Racing Post	Sun	Mirror	Times	The Guardian	Daily Mail	At The Races	GG.com
2.10pm	Pacify	Spanish Squeeze	Spanish Squeeze	Off Art	Pacify	Hit The Jackpot	Spanish Squeeze (nb)	Pacify	Erik The Red
2.40pm	Hoof It	See The Sun	Hoof It	See The Sun	Glen Moss	Hoof It	Bogart (nap)	Flaming Spear	Flaming Spear
3.15pm	Magical Memory (NB)	Magical Memory	Magical Memory	Magical Memory	Magical Memory	Twilight Son	Twilight Son	Magical Memory	Magical Memory
3.45pm	So Mi Dar (nap)	Fireglow	So Mi Dar	So Mi Dar	So Mi Dar	So Mi Dar	So Mi Dar	Best In The World	So Mi Dar
4.20pm	Monteverdi	Eqleem	Chief Whip	Replenish	Replenish	Chief Whip (nap)	Abe Lincoln	Castle Harbour	Castle Harbour
4.50pm	Logi	The Nazca Lines	Kananee	Kananee	Kananee	Computable	Hemingway	In First Place	Kananee
5.20pm	Craggaknock	Appeared	Muhaafiz	Carthage	Muhaafiz	Appeared	Muhaafiz	Appeared	Prendergast Hill

At last it’s the Dante meeting and we are racing again on Knavesmire.

The three-day (Wed to Fri) seasonal curtain-raiser at the north’s finest racecourse promises a thrilling tussle in tomorrow’s feature race, one of the strongest pointers to the Epsom Derby.

But today YorkMix tipster Dick Turpin is focusing on the fillies in the Musidora Stakes (3.45), regarded as one of the best trials for the Oaks.

The relatively small field – likely to be seven – is bursting with class.

Turpin writes:

I’m putting my shirt on John Gosden’s twice-raced So Mi Dar. Frankie Dettori is aboard his confident choice to make this daughter of Dubawi a three-race-three-wins gal to watch this season.

Middleham superstar trainer Mark Johnston comes with a strong team. But longshot fans may like to know that there’s a quiet word for Hawatif, one of the lesser lights of the yard, in the seven-furlong Conundrum HR Consulting Handicap (4.20).

Joe Fanning’s mount got going late to finish second in a six-furlong all-weather affair at Lingfield last month. The winner, Exist, was not troubled, with four lengths to spare, but the extra furlong at York and some excellent work at home hints at a decent outside chance for value-seekers.