Tuesday’s afternoon action comes from Wolverhampton, on the all-weather, and Pontefract, with three evening cards at Brighton, Ffos Las and Uttoxeter. Our 5,219/1 Lucky 15 best bets include one in the Listed Pipalong Stakes, the feature of the day at Pontefract.
Dubai Love (3.15 Pontefract)
Thunder Beauty headlines the feature race of the day on Tuesday. The Listed Pipalong Stakes at Pontefract has attracted nine runners and the favourite arrives off the back of a career best.
David O’Meara’s charge was runner-up to Saffron Beach in the Group 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot. That career best does need backing up, but she has a wonderful chance at the ratings.
Nevertheless, the rest of her formbook suggests that improvement came from almost nowhere and there were a number of disappointments in that race. She can be taken on with Saeed bin Suroor’s DUBAI LOVE. The Godolphin filly ran very well in a Group 2 at Meydan in February and was far from disgraced herself at Ascot.
She was seventh in the Kensington Palace handicap, but was drawn widest of all and travelled well into the race. She was a Listed winner as a three-year-old and definitely retains a lot of her ability.
She could certainly outrun her price here and be among the favourite’s biggest dangers.
August Place (3.30 Wolverhampton)
Sir Mark Prescott struck at Group 1 level at the weekend and Omniscient will likely step up with the extra distance he faces in this race.
However, he may ultimately want further still given the yard he is from and Marco Botti’s AUGUST PLACE has the profile of a horse being saved for handicaps. He has run three times with form of 655, but two of those have been in decent contests.
He was sixth to the useful Samburu on debut before disappointing as an odds-on favourite at Kempton. He improved on return two weeks ago at Wolverhampton though, finishing fifth in what looked a novice event with some substance.
He has been given an opening mark of 71, but this son of Postponed is another for whom this new trip will be of benefit. The booking of James Doyle is a positive as well.
Perfect Swiss (4.15 Pontefract)
Tim Easterby’s six-year-old PERFECT SWISS has a good course and distance record and his profile suggests this is the venue where he can bounce back.
He has raced three times here, winning twice and finishing third of four in the other. However, that last-named effort was after 99 days off, so he may have been feeling a bit fresh.
His other two victories here have come off marks of 63 and 70 demonstrating his progress between four and five. Equally interesting is that both wins came after a relative succession of poor performances, with the odd second or third dotted in prior.
That is very similar to where he finds himself now. He was last of seven on return at Hamilton, before a respectable fourth of 13 at Wetherby. Though he was third in a claimer at Chester last time, he was ultimately well-beaten, but his mark of 69 is very tempting back at Pontefract.
Zicatela (6.10 Brighton)
Coco Jack and Out Of Shadows will understandably head the market, but both have significant penalties having already won so far this season.
An unraced challenger is taken to defy them both. ZICATELA represents George Boughey, whose two-year-olds are just beginning to feature a lot more after an uncharacteristically slow start.
None of his first 15 juvenile runners managed to win, but since then, he has had 7 winners from 41 runners at a 17% strike rate, which is much closer to his yard’s usual form. His last runner of that generation, California Gem, was a ready winner at Beverley on Friday.
By Muhaarar, and out of a dam who won over 1m, Zicatela certainly has enough pedigree to be involved on debut.