Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Enable can be expected to start at very short odds indeed for Thursday’s Yorkshire Oaks, following the news this morning that just five rivals will take her on. Bookmakers have her at a best price of 1-3, with her nearest rival available at 7-1 for the Group One contest.
Still, I’d have fancied Enable even more if this race were being run a week ago. That’s because her main rival, Nezwaah, comes from the Roger Varian yard which I fondly imagined to be slightly off its game.
Of course, as soon as I opened my mouth on that subject, it turned out instead that Varian was quite literally on fire. From Friday morning to Sunday evening, he won six times from 14 runners and bagged a French Group One with a 14-1 shot. Good luck, Enable!
This is the last day’s racing before York’s Ebor meeting starts tomorrow and I often feel like pulling my horns in at such a moment, knowing there is juicier fare in the offing. Today’s action doesn’t do a great deal to tempt me into swashbuckling mode; it feels like the time to play safe.
So let’s nap a Sir Mark Prescott youngster at Kempton in the form of Anna Medici (3.45), about whom there is still a dribble of 2-1 available. She’s already won three on the trot and is climbing the weights but this step up to a mile should help the daughter of Sir Percy. She only scrambled home by a short-head last time but this is the first time that Luke Morris has been put aboard since her winning streak began and I expect her to improve for it.
Prescott and Morris should be winning again later on the card with Wolfcatcherjack (5.15), who carries a penalty for his emphatic success here six days ago. He has followed the well-worn Prescott template of being bred for middle-distances but acquiring a low handicap rating by being too slow for maidens at shorter distances. As a half-brother to a French St Leger winner, it’s hardly a surprise that he improved for the step up to a mile and a half. He’s evens.
If there’s an outsider worth a look today, it could be See Vermont (7.40) at Yarmouth, where a fast-ground dash will play to his strengths. The blinkers, fitted two starts ago, seemed to help and the last run can be ignored, as it was on soft. I think 12-1 is at least twice what he should be.
Tips for all Tuesday races
Brighton
2.00 Taajub 2.30 Al Ozzdi 3.00 Hallingham 3.30 Kings City 4.00 Buxted Dream 4.30 The Bear Can Fly 5.00 Alketios
Kempton
2.15 Red For Danger 2.45 Sicario 3.15 Ambrosia 3.45 Anna Medici (nap) 4.15 Manton Grange 4.45 Maakaasib 5.15 Wolfcatcherjack (nb)
Yarmouth
4.40 Wild Illusion 5.10 Mambo Dancer 5.40 Rubensian 6.10 Waiomo 6.40 Dor’s Law 7.10 Multicultural 7.40 See Vermont
Newton Abbot
5.30 Gustave Mahler 6.00 Classic Jewel 6.30 Coeur Tantre 7.00 Honkytonktennessee 7.30 Ambre Des Marais 8.00 Our Folly
