2.05pm Sandown
A very tricky contest to kick start the ITV7 on Saturday, where we have 16 runners heading to post with the current market leader being around 6/1, so that shows just how wide open this contest is.
With that in mind I have found one at a decent price, and that is Two Tempting for Jonathan Portman and David Egan. The horse has made a very pleasing start to 2024, winning on three different occasions in just four runs, which includes a nose win in a decent enough field at Epsom on the Derby meeting just a couple of weeks ago. He does have a 5lb raise in the weights to deal with here, and the fact that Sandown is a completely different track to Epsom, he will have to probably put in a career best to land this.
However he is in the form of his life, and operating off a career-high mark of 93, so he has to be taken very seriously with that in mind. David Egan is a brilliant jockey who rode this horse so well at Epsom last time, so it is good to see that partnership intact heading into Sandown on Saturday.
- Selection - Two Tempting (11/1)
2.10pm Chester
This is a strange little contest in truth, where we see the younger legs of Curious Rover take on the more experienced legs Copper Knight, and it is the latter that I am siding with here.
He is very much into his veteran years now, being at the ripe old age of 10, but he is a three-time course-distance winner which does include a win in this race back in 2022, off the mark of 97, some 20lb lower than his current mark of 77, and 4lb lower than his last winning mark.
He is two years older than that success, but he has been running in class 2 company recently, and running pretty well. A 3 and a half length 3rd in class 2 company last time at his beloved York was a very good effort, and this step down in class could see him get his head in front once again.
The fact that he still showed a little spark last time does suggest there could be more left in the tank, and given the fact he comes out of stall 2 in this on Saturday, that could set him up nicely for another big run here.
He is such a likeable type, and the fact that he is still going well at his age shows how well Tim Easterby has done with this lad. I hope he can win on Saturday, as I am sure it is in the back of connections minds that he could be bordering on retirement very soon.
Selection - Copper Knight
2.25pm York
Another incredibly open contest, where the current market leader is around the 7/1 mark, which sums up the race in truth. It seems to be a recurring theme for the racing on Saturday, as the quality is lacking but the runners are not, being Royal Ascot next week I fully expected the racing to not be as good this weekend.
This is exactly the sort of contest David O'Meara would like to land with New Image, who has been running very well since coming over to David's from Ger Lyons in Ireland, and was previously owned by Juddmonte and is pretty well bred.
The son of Frankel has had five runs for new connections after a lengthy break of 539 days, which includes 3 wins (at Southwell twice and Musselburgh) and a 3rd-placed effort at Wolverhampton when he was unlucky not to go closer after being dragged across the course in the closing stages.
He is clearly very talented, and the fact that he was given a rating of 80 when getting his handicap mark could be a little below his powers, and I fully expect him to defy the new mark of 88 here after a 4lb raise in the weights from that last win at Musselburgh 14 days ago. He is clearly thriving for his new yard, and he could make it back to back wins for the first time in his career, taking his form to the next level.
- Selection - New Image (11/2)
2.40pm Sandown
The first of two Listed contests on the ITV7 this Saturday, I very much like the look of the useful and likeable filly Adaay In Devon here, who does have to give all of these a little bit of weight on Saturday, although she has been in very good form of late.
She was once rated 69 for Rod Millman back in August 2023, where she did end up winning at Windsor, and that seemingly very much kickstarted her winning thread, where she then got her head in front on another five occasions which resulted in her getting by far a career high mark of 95.
She was then thrown into black-type company, which resulted in a win at Listed level at Bath, as well as a 2nd in the Commonwealth Cup Trial at Ascot before going on to come 3rd in a Listed contest at Newbury off the mark of 102.
She is a very game filly who could still end up improving enough to land a contest of this nature. It would be nice for connections to get her to win at black-type level, as they have done very well with this horse as she has improved tremendous amounts each time she has ended up on the racecourse.
- Selection - Adaay In Devon (2/1)
3.00pm York
I think that Relentless Voyager could be a good thing over this trip and now gelded, and he showed last time out why that could be the case when winning nicely. The Andrew Balding horse was a pretty impressive winner of a class 2 handicap at Epsom last time, where he won over the 1m4f trip by an easy 3 lengths in the end.
He was very slow away that day and was ultimately kept in the middle of the field throughout, before making eye-catching headway with a couple of furlongs to go, eventually challenging for the lead heading into the final furlong or so, before going clear as they headed to the line.
This step up to 1m6f on Saturday should pose no issues for the Balding runner, as he looked like last time the step up in trip will more than suit, as he stayed on very well heading to the line. The horse is pretty much bang there in terms of ratings, and although this is obviously a career-high mark, plus running at Listed level for the first time, he is lightly raced so there could very much be a whole lot more improvement to come from this lad. Hayley Turner picks up a nice ride here, as this is quite a nice pot for the Listed level race.
- Selection - Relentless Voyager (5/2)
All prices are from Planet Sport Bet and are subject to change
All previews and tips provided by @ Jake Russell