Our Value Bet tipster Ben Linfoot has four selections for day two of the Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival on Thursday as Enable takes centre stage.
Recommended bets: Value Bet York Day Two
Click here for our transparent tipping record
We saw a very good John Gosden-trained three-year-old in Cracksman at York on Wednesday and we’ll see an exceptional one on Thursday when stablemate Enable struts her stuff in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks.
The daughter of Nathaniel has lit up this Flat season with victories in the Investec Oaks and the King George, form that was franked by Ulysses in the Juddmonte, and that she’s the 5/4 favourite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe tells you everything you need to know. She’s all class.
Priced up at 2/7 for the Yorkshire Oaks, I see little point in taking her on. On very fast ground, maybe I would’ve been tempted, but Wednesday’s rain sealed the deal. It’s a no bet race. Let’s just watch her do her thing.
There are plenty of betting opportunities elsewhere on another fantastic card anyway and the Clipper Logistics Handicap at 3.00 is wide open.
Some sexy improving handicappers head the market here with Ronald R, Victory Bond and Chelsea Lad three examples and I have nothing against any of them, other than they are single-figure prices in a complex race.
I want to take them on at the prices and two stand out for me including Tim Easterby’s ONE WORD MORE at 14/1 (bet365, BetVictor).
Easterby’s horses have been going really well all summer, with Wednesday’s Acomb hero Wells Farhh Go his 39th winner in July and August, and One Word More could well add to that tally now he’s become so well handicapped.
He’s been placed at York in handicaps off marks of 98 and 99 on no less than four occasions and he was fifth in this race two years ago off a rating of 103.
Now rated 92, this is his best chance at the weights for years and he ran a belter at Goodwood last time when powering home for fifth from a poor position.
It was a run that suggested he’s ready to strike and the rain on Wednesday has made conditions pretty much ideal. With the early pace drawn on the inside he’ll be held up from his wide draw, but David Allan should get him rolling early in the straight and he could well pick them all up off his feather weight.
The other one I want to back is David O’Meara’s BRAVERY at 25/1 (Betfair Sportsbook, 22 General).
He’s actually got quite a similar profile to One Word More as he ran his best race in a while at Goodwood last time and has become well handicapped again after a largely unproductive summer.
It’s worth remembering, though, that he won the Lincoln on his seasonal and stable debut at Doncaster off a mark of 100 and he’s slipped down to the 1lb lower rating of 99 now.
It was good to soft at Doncaster and it’s going to be similar at York on Thursday, while he didn’t run too badly in the Hambleton Handicap at the Dante meeting off a 6lb higher mark.
He didn’t fare as well here over 10 furlongs in the John Smith’s Cup but he needs a strongly-run mile to be at his best and he should get that scenario in this race for a trainer that has won two of the last four renewals.
Earlier on I think Hey Jonesy is the one to beat in the Goffs Premier Yearling Stakes but he’s nothing but about right at 9/2 and the one that looks underestimated is Hugo Palmer’s ALBA POWER at 16/1 (General).
Palmer is one to watch in these Sales races as he plucked a big Tattersalls Millions pot with Gifted Master and his only previous runner in this race was New Providence, a filly that was second to Mubtaghaa in 2014.
He knows what’s required to land the money and Alba Power is one of the best off at the weights off his rating of 97 following good runs in the July Stakes and the Winkfield Stakes on his last two starts.
Last time he showed he handles cut in the ground well and a strong gallop at six on these sort of conditions could well be ideal.
Finally, it could be significant that William Haggas has no runners in the big Sales race with SPECIAL PURPOSE (13/2 General) aimed at the Sky Bet Lowther Stakes instead.
Haggas has won the big pot in the Goffs race three times in the last four years and his only possible at the six-day stage was Special Purpose, a filly that goes for the Lowther instead.
The Skipton-born trainer doesn’t have a bad record in the Lowther, either, winning it twice in the last five years and Special Purpose could enhance that record given the impression she’s made in two starts to date.
An easy winner at Lingfield on debut, she improved on that form when running away with a novice race at Bath, form that was franked by the well-beaten runner-up Gold Stone when she won at Beverley last Thursday.
Firmly in the could-be-anything category, Special Purpose shapes as though she will be even better at six furlongs and it’s worth chancing that she can find the necessary improvement in what looks a good renewal.
Sky Bet price promise
Sky Bet are offering EXTRA VALUE to followers of the Sporting Life Value Bet column with guaranteed advertised prices for at least 15 minutes from 1800 BST on the day of publication.
Click here to place your bets with Sky Bet
Ben Linfoot's Value Bet aim: The Value Bet is designed to generate long-term profit by searching for overpriced horses in the feature weekend races and at the big Festivals in the UK. Running total: +384.39pts to advised stakes/prices (from inception of Value Bet column in January 2010 to current). Posted at 1700 BST on 22/08/17.
