DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
THURSDAY MAY 15
2.10 YORK
Jim Goldie was quite keen to stress his belief American Affair has the potential to become a pattern class performer in due course after scoring at Musselburgh and if it wasn’t for a tricky draw, he would be the automatic choice in this opening sprint.
JM JUNGLE (best price 11-2), the horse who chased him at the Scottish venue last time out, however, has been blessed with a better stall position and John & Sean Quinn’s inmate is fancied to the fly the flag for the form.
The son of Bungle Inthejungle was partly responsible for the very strong pace set 26 days ago and he, along with two others, rather set things up for the winner to power over the top close home.
That said, he still came out of the above-average affair with a career high speed figure and with a whole host of top-quality runs under his belt at today’s track, including a victory on his latest encounter last August, he makes for an appealing proposition on his return visit.
JM JUNGLE – 1-point each-way@11-2
3.13 YORK
The ratings suggest AMBIENTE AMIGO (best price 25-1) and KARMOLOGY (best price 18-1) might as well send their photos in this Group 2, but that notion could turn out to be wide of the mark and at the respective morning prices, they are worth playing against the field to see if one of them can cause an upset.
The pair fought out a finish of a listed prize at Nottingham recently, with the former just coming out on top and both proved they still have a happy appetite for the game despite hectic schedules last season.
Moreover, the speed figure was very good and even though they will have to raise their levels again to feature in this stiffer assignment, at least the data suggest its possible.
James Owen has been turning sow’s ears into silk purses for quite few seasons now, so anything is possible with the Newmarket handler, and his daughter of Postponed would have finished a good deal close to the action had she obtained a clearer run on her only previous outing at York.
The latter, on the other hand, has proven many times over that the galloping nature of the Knavesmire suits her ideally and her form figures of 122 are not to be sniffed at.
AMBIENTE AMIGO – ½ point each-way@25-1
KARMOLOGY – ½ point each-way@18-1
3.45 YORK
All eyes will be on The Lion In Winter in his bid to continue his handler’s domination of the Derby trials and if he is anywhere near the levels that saw him land the Acomb over today’s course when last seen, he will surely walk away with the prize.
He has, however, been priced up accordingly and there may be some better value to be obtained with DAMYSUS (best price 20-1), who at least has already had a run this season and it came via a useful speed figure in the Sandown Classic Trial last month.
John & Thady Gosden’s inmate was an unknown quantity heading into that small field contest at the Esher track, having just had the one previous run, and he left the impression we still need to see more of him before gathering a true idea of what he is capable of.
Settled in last of the five-runner field 20 days ago, he rather got caught flat-footed as the tempo increased turning for home, but he finished his race off to really good effect down the outside and as he hit the line, he was bearing down on the front pair.
Although it’s probably not earth-shattering form, the time figure gives it a little extra gloss and with the potentially of a good deal more to come, he is fancied to outrun his odds.
DAMYSUS – ½ point each-way@20-1
6.48 CLONMEL
ORDER OF THE DANCE (best price 10-3) showed a nice bit of improvement for racing on better ground at Kilbeggan last time out and Edward O’Grady’s gelding is fancied to go one place better in this similar heat.
The five-year-old hadn’t showed too much prior to his latest encounter but the way he finished his race off at the Westmeath venue holds out plenty of encouragement for the future.
Reasonably well treated based on that effort on handicap debut, the step up in trip and first-time cheekpieces can initiate further improvement and, being of the few with any amount of upside against his name, the son of Order Of St George makes plenty of appeal.
ORDER OF THE DANCE – 1-point win@10-3