Alex Hammond Blog including Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival and Newbury Tips

The 16th running of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival gets under way on Friday, which can mean only one thing, it’s time for a motley crew of racing experts (me included) to put their reputations on the line in the name of charity.

That means a Tipping Competition which runs across the 10-race meetings from Friday July 19 until York's fixture next Saturday. There's nothing like a bit of pressure and Sky Bet have me as the 3/1 joint-favourite (at the time of writing boosted to 7/2) along with the Sporting Life team.

So, keep your eyes across the various Sky Bet and Sporting Life socials and sportinglife.com for the daily selections and current rankings. It’s all in the name of a worthy cause, as this year the funds raised will go to the Matt Hampson Foundation, a charity that has been helping Graham Lee and his family.

I’m off to Newbury on Friday and Saturday for the Super Sprint meeting and summer has thankfully reappeared. I’ve a few fancies across the two day meeting, so here’s hoping for some luck.

Friday

My first fancy goes in the third race, the Ivan Crawford British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at 3.00. Ecology made a promising start to her career at Haydock, finishing second to a filly with a Lowther entry. Ollie Sangster has done well with his two year olds to date and this daughter of Earthlight should have improved for her debut.

Symbol Of Honour has been gelded since he was last seen finishing sixth in the Coventry at Royal Ascot and this 600,000 guineas yearling purchase looks to have a good opportunity of winning again in the Ire-Incentive – Pays To Buy Irish Rose Bowl Stakes at 4.10. He has an official rating of 100 which should be a standard good enough to take this six-furlong Listed contest.

Tom Ward will be keen to get a winner at his local track and he has a few runners over the weekend. Our Golden One tries the one mile five and a half furlong trip for the first time in the UHY Ross Brooke Fillies’ Handicap, and she should appreciate the step up in distance.

She ran in a listed race at Longchamp last time out and holds a group 2 entry, so I’m hoping a mark of 93 isn’t too high. As a three year old she gets a hefty weight allowance off the older horses, an incentive that has paid off on many occasions in this race in the past.

The closing race on Friday is the BetVictor Handicap over a mile and a half. Seven horses have been declared to run but you can’t rule many of them out. I’m hoping the Andrew Balding-trained Lieber Power can back up his recent win in an Apprentice Handicap at York.

He’s unpenalised for that and is 3lbs well in at the weights. He may have it to do against the well-weighted three year olds but I hope he can win for his in-form trainer.

Saturday

The Weatherbys Super Sprint was first run in 1991 and has been won 11 times, no less, by Richard Hannon senior (7) and junior (4).

Hannon snr was instrumental in the development of these sales races and has taken advantage of the superb prize money on offer for two-year-olds bought relatively cheaply at public auction. This year, current trainer Hannon has just one roll of the dice with Miss Collada, the mount of Tom Marquand. She’s well drawn in 17 and unsurprisingly this has been her target.

It Ain’t Two is Sky Bet’s 3/1 favourite for a reason and has obvious claims. She’s nicely weighted and well-drawn (15) and has been given the vote of confidence by Oisin Murphy, who was on board last time out.

The draw isn’t helpful to Vingegaard but Archie Watson knows what it takes to win this having sent out Eddie’s Boy to win two years ago. He’s a 5/1 shot. At 10/1 I’m happy to have Miss Collada on side to finish in the places as Sky Bet are paying six places rather than the usual three.

Away from the feature race and the day kicks off with the Listed Steventon Stakes over a mile and a quarter. Jim Crowley has jumped off last year’s winner Al Aasy to ride Alyanaabi for Owen Burrows (both are owned by his retainer Shadwell Estate Company Ltd).

This is an easier task than those Alyanaabi has faced so far this season in the 2000 Guineas and St. James’s Palace Stakes and his trainer is in great form. He’s odds-on favourite and his main rival Al Aaasy isn’t one to have total faith in. However, at the prices, maybe he’s worth the risk! He’s 11/4 second favourite to beat the owner’s first string.

Race two is the Mettal UK Handicap over an extended two miles. The Ian Williams-trained Dancing In Paris looks progressive over staying trips and is in good hands to climb up the ranks. He’s an attractive looking 9/1 shot.

The 14/1 shot Spirit Mixer is one of my cliff horses; he’s beautifully bred but hasn’t been at his best for a while. Having said that, he’s 2lbs below his last winning mark now.

The Fidelity Energy Hackwood Stakes looks like a cracker of a race. It’s never easy for the three-year-olds to beat the older sprinters but I like the look of Elite Status in this Group 3.

He has a problem with knocking himself and it’s something his trainer Karl Burke has tried to rectify.

I hope they’ve found a solution as he’s got loads of potential. He’s 7/2 to win his second start of the season having been off the track since winning impressively here in May.

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