Who’ll win at York Races? Tips for the June meeting, Day 2

Sat 15 Jun

Sat 15 Jun 2019  @ 10:20am
YorkMix
Sport

It’s the biggest charity race meeting in Britain – just by turning up you help raise money for great causes.

But can we help you to pocket a little cash for yourself too? Over to the YorkMix tipster Dick Turpin…

“If the rain comes they run and hide their heads / They might as well be dead / If the rain comes, if the rain comes,” writes Turpin.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney weren’t writing about conditions on Knavesmire, but the sentiment looks very apt this week.

With rain-soaked ground already, and a forecast 80 per cent chance of more precipitation (albeit light rain), punters might as well be dead. So take great care if you find yourself tempted to splash your cash in the betting ring today.

The last time conditions were this poor, the bookies had a field day as the bottomless ground turned the form books upside down.

As last year, the big race, the Ganton Stakes (4.05), attracts just five runners competing for the £28,355 prize. The small field gives a realistic chance to all five, especially if the pace is anything less than a true gallop over the whole seven furlongs.

David Elsworth’s ever-popular Sir Dancealot is likely to make a bold showing. But preference is for Andrew Balding’s Happy Power who impressed recently at Newbury. As long as champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa ensures a true pace throughout, the three-year-old colt will take all the beating.

Sir Dancealot’s half-sister, Lady Dancealot (how do they think of these names?) is a much more interesting betting proposition than her sibling. She runs in the ten-runner British Ebf Premier Fillies Handicap (4.40).

Her recent third place at Windsor has been boosted by a subsequent win by the runner-up in that race. Likely favourite, Philipine Cobra is a clear danger, penalised for a recent win, but still lurking dangerously at the bottom of the weights.

Lili Wen Fach ground out a gutsy win at Chepstow last week over five furlongs in a finish that suggested she might fare even better over six furlongs. She is the selection in the 6f Skf Rous Selling Stakes (2.55), the most valuable selling race of the season.

As ever, on wet days at Knavesmire, take great care; the racing is always exciting, but it can be a graveyard for punters. With a lot of luck, a following wind and clearing skies, you might be able to sing, ‘Here comes the sun’ by the time you get to the last race (5.15), especially if the mud-loving Royal Cosmic obliges, as my friends near Richard Fahey’s Malton yard have hinted.

Turpin’s tips