York Ladies Day tips: Newsboy's 1-2-3, Nap and best bets for every race on Thursday
SNOWFALL is tipped for an Oaks treble with victory on Ladies Day at York.
Aidan O'Brien's star has taken the English and Irish versions – and now is expected to dominate her rivals on the Knavesmire.
Her fascinating clash with Wonderful Tonight lights up the Darley Yorkshire Oaks, amid some competitive races on the day two card.
Newsboy's top tips for all seven races...
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 ILLUSTRATING (NB)
2 SANDRINE
3 ZAIN CLAUDETTE
ILLUSTRATING is the value alternative to favourite Sandrine.
A debut winner at Catterick Bridge at the start of June, the daughter of Showcasing ran seventh behind Quick Suzy in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot 12 days later.
But trainer Karl Burke always believed Illustrating, whose dam, Maids Causeway, won the Group 1 Coronation Stakes when the Royal meeting was staged at York in 2005, was a filly of some potential - and her victory at Glorious Goodwood last time went a long way towards justifying that view.
Sent off the 2-1 favourite for a seven-runner fillies’ conditions stakes, Danny Tudhope’s mount burst clear for an impressive two-and-three-quarter-length supremacy from Anadora.
This task requires more - but Illustrating is a long way from the bottom of the barrel.
The unbeaten Sandrine has scored at Royal Ascot and Newmarket’s July Festival on her last two starts and sets the standard, with Zain Claudette and Hello You next best.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 WINGS OF WAR
2 SYSTEM
3 KORKER
WINGS OF WAR has already done enough in two starts to make him a rock-solid candidate to take the £98,360 back to Clive Cox’s Lambourn stable.
A son of Dark Angel and a first foal from the well-related mare Futoon - placed three times in Listed grade for Kevin Ryan - Wings Of War fetched £140,000 in the sales ring as a yearling.
Sent off at 9-4 for a six-runner novice stakes over Leicester’s five furlongs at the start of June, Adam Kirby’s mount ran a race full of promise for the future with a three-quarter-length second to Ernie’s Valentine.
Stepped up to six for a Nottingham maiden in the middle of last month, Wings Of War duly went one better, making all the running to post a cosy two-and-a-half-length success from Sovereign Prince.
There is plenty more where that came from.
System hails from a stable with an excellent record in this race and warrants the utmost respect, while Ever Given and Korker are others to throw into the melting pot.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 ORBAAN
2 LA TRINIDAD
3 GIFTED RULER
ORBAAN ran well without getting the rub of the green at Glorious Goodwood last time, and is now down to his last winning handicap mark.
Vets operated on the David O’Meara six-year-old’s breathing after his fifth in the Lincoln at Doncaster in March, but Orbaan showed little immediate benefit for going under the knife with a fifth of six at Newcastle and a last of 13 at Sandown Park on his next two starts.
However, his sixth to Maydanny in Goodwood’s Golden Mile - Escobar was third, Magical Morning 15th and Trais Fluors 17th of the 18 runners - was much more like it.
Asked to come from the back, Jamie Spencer’s mount couldn’t find an opening when he needed one two furlongs out, but kept on well once in the clear.
The 1lb drop in the weights takes Orbaan to a rating of 100 - the exact same rating from which he scored over this course and distance last July - so everything is in place for a bold show.
In an open race, La Trinidad, Ametist, Baashir and Gifted Ruler sit atop a long shortlist.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 SNOWFALL
2 WONDERFUL TONIGHT
3 ESHAADA
SNOWFALL is hard to get away from, for all that the surprise presence in the line-up of Wonderful Tonight gives her more to do.
She was no star at as a juvenile, winning a Curragh maiden from seven attempts, but the daughter of Deep Impact has proved emphatically Britain and Ireland’s best middle-distance filly during her Classic year.
It was at York that the Aidan O’Brien trainee made a successful return with a three-and-three-quarter-length margin in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes in May.
Impressive though that effort was, it prepared nobody for the 16-length thumping that Snowfall inflicted on her rivals in the Cazoo Oaks at Epsom next time, as she powered clear for a record supremacy in the Epsom test.
And although she had a ‘mere’ eight and a half lengths to spare over her rivals in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh on her most recent start, Snowfall never gave those who had supported her at 2-7 an anxious moment.
It will rank as the shock of the meeting if her colours are lowered here.
Although she is being primed for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Wonderful Tonight is a two-time Group 1 heroine who will be no pushover.
Ribblesdale Stakes first and second Loving Dream and Eshaada should fight it out for the bronze medal.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 MAGLEV
2 NEPTUNE LEGEND
3 ASWAN
MAGLEV would be two from three granted luck in running at Chester last time and is taken for a winning handicap debut.
A £210,000 breeze-up purchase, the William Haggas-trained son of Galileo Gold showed promise for the future with a debut fourth over five furlongs at Leicester at the start of June before getting off the mark with a short-head call over Home City when tackling six at Yarmouth a month later.
Punters sent Maglev off the 6-5 favourite to beat two rivals in a conditions event, again over six furlongs, at Chester 18 days ago.
And they were unlucky not to collect - Tom Marquand’s mount flew home after waiting for a gap but still found Mot And The Messer a head up at the line, with Global Wisdom a couple of lengths back in third.
The step up to seven furlongs is a plus for this improving colt, for whom an opening British Horseracing Authority mark of 91 looks within range.
In a field of juveniles open to further progress, Aswan, Alflaila and Neptune Legend are the most convincing candidates for the podium.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 PENNYMOOR
2 DUBAI FOUNTAIN
3 AMMA GRACE
PENNYMOOR ran out a wide-margin winner upped to a mile and a half last time and is ready for this rise in class.
The daughter of Frankel and Penelopa, who narrowly denied Secret Gesture victory in the 2013 German Oaks, didn’t make the racecourse at two and was well held at Windsor in June on her belated debut.
But there was more to like about a second to Wahraan at Pontefract second time out and, moving up from 10 to 12 furlongs at Kempton Park at the start of this month, Pennymoor was devastating in victory.
Sent to the front on the approach to the final quarter mile, my selection powered clear to berat Artemisia Lomi by nine and a half lengths.
It will be a surprise if Pennymoor can’t hold her own in a higher grade, and Frankie Dettori’s mount gets the vote over likely favourite Amma Grace, a big player on last season’s form but below par in two starts in 2021.
Dubai Fountain is capable of playing a role on the form of her Cheshire Oaks win, while Portfolio is also worth a second look.
Newsboy's 1-2-3
1 IMPROVISED (NAP)
2 AGINCOURT
3 SWEET ENOUGH
IMPROVISED continues to go from strength to strength - and the four-timer beckons.
Unraced at two, David O’Meara’s daughter of Raven’s Pass stepped forward from a debut fifth at Wolverhampton in May with a neck margin at Ripon the following month.
My selection followed up at Catterick Bridge four weeks later, and racked up the hat-trick when moving into handicap company at Epsom last time out.
Given a handicap mark of 80, Improvised and Danny Tudhope - who makes way for Silvestre De Sousa - relished the step up from six to seven furlongs to hold Poet’s Magic by a length and a quarter.
The runner-up gave the form a boost when going one better at Carlisle on Tuesday, and Improvised, who has plenty of scope for further progress on the fifth outing of her career, is taken to defy a 4lb rise in the weights.
Spirit Of Bermuda, Sweet Enough and Makinitup come here on a hat-trick and have strong claims in a trappy finale, along with Agincourt, who was narrowly denied in this race two years ago.
