Brilliant BAAEED is ready to show his star quality in the Juddmonte International (3.35) on day one of the Sky Bet Ebor Festival.
William Haggas' charge is a short price to make it win number ten, stepping up in trip on the Knavesmire. It is a route the great Frankel followed and the hot favourite is fully expected to keep his unbeaten record intact.
Earlier on the card, LOCAL DYNASTY has the same aim in the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes (2.25). Charlie Appleby's smartly bred colt won despite his inexperience on debut and he is entitled to take a big step forward.
Value selection ATALIS BAY can give punters a flying start to proceedings in the Sky Bet And Symphony Group Handicap (1.50).
Newsboy's top tips for every race at York on Wednesday
1.50
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 ATALIS BAY
2 ZARZYNI
3 COPPER KNIGHT
ATALIS BAY didn’t get the breaks at Goodwood on his most recent start and could be the solution to a trappy start to the meeting.
To land his first success of 2022, the Robert Cowell-trained four-year-old must reverse last-time-out running with Dusky Lord.
The pair came home second and eighth respectively in a five-furlong handicap on the South Downs won by Lord Riddiford. Atalis Bay and Danny Tudhope, who makes way for Rossa Ryan, was denied a clear passage when attempting to make his ground from the rear after half way before keeping on in the closing stages.
My selection, a five-time winner – including at Listed level – in the care of Marco Botti before moving stables for this season, reopposes on 2lb better terms for a deficit of just over two lengths. Fast ground will aid Atalis Bay’s cause and, granted luck in running, he can reverse Goodwood running to break his duck for the campaign at the fifth attempt.
Past winners, and six-time course victors, Dakota Gold and Copper Knight are feared, along with Zarzyni and King Of Stars.
2.25
1 LOCAL DYNASTY
2 INDESTRUCTIBLE
3 HECTIC
LOCAL DYNASTY rates another potential star for Charlie Appleby and is expected to take his career tally to two wins from as many starts.
The Godolphin two-year-old has the pedigree to be smart, being a son of Dubawi out of Really Special, who won the Listed Montrose Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket for Saeed bin Suroor in October 2016. And Local Dynasty had evidently been showing up on the gallops before starting out in a seven-furlong maiden at Newmarket’s July Course 11 days ago, being sent off the 15-8 favourite in a field of 10.
His backers must have been sweating when Local Dynasty got loose beforehand and he also showed palpable signs of inexperience once the race was underway. Once sent to the front over a furlong from the line, Local Dynasty powered up the hill to beat Onslow Gardens by three and a half lengths.
There is any amount of improvement to come as this exciting youngster learns the ropes and a step up to Group 2 level looks within his compass.
Irish raider Indestructible scored with authority at Windsor on the back of a promising start at the Curragh and is next on the list, with Hectic and Oviedo fighting it out for the bronze medal.
3.00
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 AIKHAL
2 SECRET STATE
3 DEAUVILLE LEGEND
AIKHAL showed himself in a new light when sent beyond a mile last time and has still more to offer at middle distances.
The winner of a seven-furlong Listowel maiden last September from four outings as a juvenile, the Aidan O’Brien-saddled colt was handed a tough assignment on his return for 2022 when lining up for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Sent off at 50-1, Aikhal duly returned last of the 11 participants behind Coroebus, but it was a different story when he tackled 10 furlongs for a Group 3 contest at the Curragh 11 days later. Punters again ignored the chances of Ryan Moore’s mount and they were proved wrong as Aikhal ran out a four-and-a-quarter-length winner over Duke De Sessa.
There’s little wrong with that form – the third horse Rumbles Of Thunder has since captured a Group 3 event at Cork, while fifth home Bear Story ran second in the same grade at Leopardstown next time.
Although Aikhal’s dam Diamond Fields was unraced beyond nine furlongs, there is enough in her pedigree to suggest my selection can thrive at this afternoon’s mile-and-a-half distance. Going-places favourite Secret State faces his toughest task but isn’t taken on lightly, while Deauville Legend has plenty to back up his claim for a place on the podium.
3.35
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 BAAEED
2 NATIVE TRAIL
3 MISHRIFF
BAAEED has carried all before him over a mile and it’s hard to envisage a first defeat for William Haggas’s superstar now that he tackles an additional two furlongs.
The son of Sea The Stars famously didn’t see racecourse as a juvenile, but his athletic prowess was soon evident as Baaeed employed victories at Leicester, Newmarket (twice) and Gooodwood as stepping stones towards Group 1 opposition. His first attempt at the highest level yielded success from Order Of Australia in Longchamp’s Prix du Moulin last September, before Jim Crowley’s partner beat Palace Pier by a neck for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot the following month.
This year, Baaeed has extended his flawless record to nine, beginning with a three-and-a-quarter-length humbling of Real World in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May and then a length-and-three-quarter supremacy from the same horse in the Queen Anne Stakes.
A fifth Group 1 triumph arrived, by the same margin from Modern Games, in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood three weeks ago, after which Haggas confirmed the plan to go up in distance.
A mile and a quarter is expected to prove well within range and, while this race has served up more than the odd upset, Baaeed should stretch his unbeaten sequence into double figures. Mishriff ran out the six-length winner here 12 months ago but his habit of starting slowly is an increasing cause for concern so, with Dubai Honour, High Definition and Sir Busker up against it, Native Trail is the selection to chase Baaeed home.
4.10
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 THUNDEROUS
2 FRANKENSTELLA
3 SOAPY STEVENS
THUNDEROUS is capable of giving his rivals weight and a beating as he drops into the handicap sphere for the very first time.
The Mark and Charlie Johnston-trained gelding won four from five starts during his first two seasons in training, ending his three-year-old campaign with a win in the Group 2 Dante Stakes – resited as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – in July 2020.
Night Of Thunder’s son is without a win in 10 subsequent attempts and his last two pieces of form – double-digit defeats in York’s Group 3 Silver Cup and the Group 1 Goodwood Cup – need improving on.
Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. Thunderous got within a length of Stradivarius in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup here last May and a reproduction of that effort would put Ryan Moore’s mount, into handicaps with a British Horseracing Authority rating of 109, firmly in the firing line.
The shortlist to a fascinating race is a frustratingly long one, with the progressive Master Milliner, course-and-distance scorer Frankenstella, the veteran Red Verdon and my selection’s stablemates Soapy Stevens and Themaxwecan all capable of having a say.
4.45
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 HELLOMYDARLIN
2 ATTAGIRL
3 SANDBECK
HELLOMYDARLIN gets the vote to spring a shock in a fillies’ handicap of myriad possible outcomes.
The daughter of Galileo Gold’s oeuvre is something of a mixed bag – and that’s putting it generously. For a start, Hellomydarlin hasn’t collected in 16 visits to the racecourse since making a successful debut at Goodwood in June of last year.
There are some high spots – the George Boughey three-year-old ran a cracker to finish third, beaten half a length and a neck, in the nursery that closed the corresponding card 12 months ago. That run came from a British Horseracing Authority mark of 98 and Hellomydarlin, third in Ayr’s Listed Land O’ Burns Fillies Stakes before two failures over six furlongs, competes from a 10lb lower rating here.
Throw in the fact that she has run to her best at five furlongs on decent ground – apprentice Connor Planas’ 7lb claim is also a plus – and a bold show at rewarding odds is on the cards.
Threats lurk at every corner, with Attagirl, Sandbeck, International Girl and Peggy Sioux among those who merit a second glance.
5.20
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 RAMAZAN
2 ROGUE SPIRIT
3 MRS U S A
RAMAZAN has an attractive profile as he seeks a third career success from five starts.
Richard Fahey has been the trainer to follow in this race in recent times – his Musley Bank stable has captured three of the last 10 runnings.
Last of four at Pontefract in April on his debut, Kodiac’s son took a step forward to land a five-furlong novice stakes at Beverley the following month.
Fahey put a visor on Ramazan for Royal Ascot’s Listed Windsor Castle Stakes and Ramazan returned 11 th of 24 behind Little Big Bear. That race has worked out extraordinarily well and Oisín Orr’s mount did his bit to frank the form with a two-and-a-half-length supremacy in a nursery over six furlongs at Haydock Park last time out.
Runner-up Signora Camacho has won both her starts in the handicap sphere since and a 7lb rise in the weights may not prevent Ramazan from going in again. Mrs U S A, who made it third time lucky at Sandown Park four weeks ago, has more to give and is respected, along with Cathy Come Home, Rogue Spirit and Shandy Star.
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