Saturday racing blog recap from Ripon, Newbury and Newmarket

Blog Recap, all times BST

1635: Danehill Kodiac finishes strongly to win the randoxhealth.com Handicap at Newmarket under Sean Levey, his first start for 316 days. It's been a day for comebacks after Massaat's Hungerford victory after 373 days off the track and even Mattmu, the Wilfrid winner, hadn't been seen for 100 days. That's relatively long for a sprinter.

With the best of the racing over we'll leave it at that for the Saturday racing blog as we wrap up today's reports. Thanks for joining us, you can get all the latest fast results here and, like I say, the live blog will be back on Wednesday bright and early for day one of the Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival.

1628: Apologies for the lack of updates there, was just looking at the six-day entries for York on Friday. What a marvellous meeting we have in store next week. Cannot wait. There will be a Value Bet every day for York and I'll be blogging Wednesday to Friday too. It should be a cracker.

1612: Alas, it's not to be as Gold Star runs out a ready winner under Super Eddie Greatrex. The young 3lb claimer has now ridden 10 winners this month at almost 25 per cent and if I were a trainer looking for an extra edge in the big York handicaps next week I'd be turning to S.E.G.

1603: Kind of hoping Erdogan blasts Farage out of the water here in the next at Newbury just for SEO purposes.

1555: The impressive Massaat strides home in the G2 Hungerford Stakes.

1540: It's all over for Librisa Breeze, you'd never trust him again would you? He'd find trouble in a two-runner race on the Rowley Mile. Perhaps that's harsh. He's second anyway, to the very impressive Massaat, making his first start in 373 days. LB somehow managed to be short of room once again.

1534: Order Of St George wins easily at the Curragh, can Newbury hotpot Librisa Breeze follow his lead in the Group 2 Hungerford coming up at Newbury?

1526: PICK 7 UPDATE: There will be no Sporting Life Pick 7 winner today, folks. Mattmu pretty much saw to that.

1520: Mattmu wins the Great St Wilfrid on the far side at 25/1, David Allen switching him over there from stall 10 early in proceedings. He's been to stud, back in training and he's made all at a massive price to win the Ripon feature. The unlucky one was Shanghai Glory, he's hosed up in his group on the stands' side but only third overall with Pipers Note second.

1513: #TheWilfrid is coming up at Ripon. Growl is the popular 4/1 favourite for Richard Fahey with Shanghai Glory 7/1 second best. They're behind the stalls for the Ripon feature.

1510: Emma Clutterbuck, pupil assistant to trainer Hugo Palmer, said of Geoffrey Freer runner-up Wall Of Fire earlier: "The horse has run an absolute blinder.

"He has finished in the first three, which is important in getting qualification for the Melbourne Cup. He is owned by some Australians and that is where they hope he will end up."

Wall Of Fire was introduced by Sky Bet at 25/1 for the Emirates Melbourne Cup. Red Cardinal is the 12/1 favourite for the 'race that stops a nation'.

1505: Sad news that Jack Dexter was fatally injured at Ripon. Brilliant flagbearer for Jim Goldie over the years and was top notch in his prime.

1503: Squats was given a chance by the handicapper after being dropped 7lb in one hit and Georgia Cox makes no mistake, steering him to his first success in three years in the Betfred TV Ladies Day Handicap at Newbury.

1456: If Ian Ogg is the King of Cool, Andrea Atzeni is the King of Doncaster. He's won the last four Racing Post Trophy's and two of the last three St Leger's. So he's well placed to say if he thinks Defoe is a Leger horse. I think he thinks he is.

Atzeni said: "He picked up really well, the further he went the better he was. I was always confident he'd win his race quite nicely. He's by Dalakhani so he likes cut in the ground and he's a horse with a big future. This was his test to see if he'd stay and he took his chance here to see if he did stay the mile and six. I think this horse is getting better and could be anything."

1455: Sobetsu is your impressive winner of the Shadwell Prix de la Nonette at Deauville.

1451: PICK 7 UPDATE: Over 120,000 of you have played the Sporting Life Pick 7 today and 40 per cent of that number safely negotiated the first leg thanks to Defoe.

1450: Bacchus just gets the verdict over Dakota Gold in another thriller at Newmarket with Merlin not quite so magic today in third. One thing we can safely say is Farleigh Mac does not want soft ground.

1445: They split into two groups in the #SilverWilfrid at Ripon and it's the bigger stands' side group that comes out on top with Kevin Ryan's Teruntum Star edging out Red Pike, the pair well clear. Clues for #TheWilfrid there? Who knows.

1440: They are going in the stalls at Ripon for the #SilverWilfrid.

1437: Defoe is 7/1 from 11/1 at Sky Bet for the St Leger at Doncaster next month and he'll be a massive player on Town Moor. I wouldn't want to back any other horse for the race if I'm honest.

1432: A really good race and Defoe is looking an exceptional improver this season. He travelled all over them here and Andrea Atzeni was still motionless when Wall Of Fire made his challenge up the rail. Hugo Palmer's charge was gaining momentum, though, and had to switch when Atzeni came across him aboard Defoe in the closing stages. There is a stewards' inquiry, but the winning distance is three-quarters of a length and I would be staggered, staggered, if this is reversed.

1425: Geoffrey Freer up next. Defoe remains your favourite.

1415: Anyway, let's move on. Nothing more than a minor setback there. Talking of the Great St Wilfrid, which is off at Ripon in exactly one hour's time, there's a bit of a gamble taking place on Ann Duffield's George Dryden for the race.

King of cool Ian Ogg tipped him when he was 25/1 on Thursday but he's now 9/1 at Sky Bet after sustained support today.

Click here for Sky Bet's latest odds on the Wilfrid.

#TheWilfrid

1412: It didn't go well. Too free, too keen, no cover, everything you didn't want. A flash of greys pass the post together but Dark Power ain't one of them. Hmmph. There's always the Wilfrid. The winner is number seven, Case Key.

1408: It's not make or break stuff for your blogger. But a comfortable Dark Power win would be lovely.

1406: An action shot of Nathan winning at Newbury this afternoon.

1357: Hey Gaman led them down the centre of the track in Indian file and he still went well when his rivals fanned out to challenge approaching the final furlong.

That was when Red Mist, another son of Frankel, began his challenge in earnest, though, and Hey Gaman had to show guts and resilience to hold off that rival in the closing stages.

He did so, by the narrowest of margins, well, a short head, despite drifting slightly to his left in the closing stages, James Tate's charge holding on in a thrilling spectacle.

1347: It's the Washington Singer Stakes up next at Newbury (1.50), or the Listed Denford Stakes to give it its new and correct name. If I say Washington Singer, though, you may recall the likes of Belardo and Escobar winning this in recent years. Simon Crisford's Red Mist, ridden by sizzling Silvestre De Sousa, is your 9/4 favourite.

1333: PICK 7 ALERT! Ok, here's your final hour warning people. The free-to-play Sporting Life Pick 7 kicks off at 2.25 so you've less than 60 minutes to get your entries in. It's free, it's winnable, it's for £100,000. Click here >>> to log-in/register.

1330: Nathan wins nicely again for Alan King and Fergus Sweeney at Newbury. The son of Nathaniel won off a mark of 78 last time and he's done this nicely off 6lb higher today. It seems to be that he's winning despite running over 10 furlongs and the feeling is he could improve again once he steps up in trip. He's a half-brother to King Of Wands who stayed two miles and won over 1m6f a couple of times.

King says: "I haven't had him long [used to be with Simon Crisford], he's growing up all the time and the more racing he has the better. I wanted to run him today to see if he did handle the ground but he seems to have put that to bed. He should want further, he's a lot of stamina in the pedigree and that's the best he's settled today. He's very progressive."

1319: We're nearly under way for the afternoon as they go down for the first, the 1.20 at Newbury.

1317: I must admit I was caught out by how much rain they've had at Newmarket, I didn't expect the ground to be soft today. I'm not totally convinced it's what Value Bet tip Farleigh Mac wants in the 2.45, but on the other hand he's never run on it so we just don't know. Last time at Bath the ground was good to soft after fresh rain had just fallen but on genuine soft he's an unknown quantity.

There is a bit of hope as he's a half-brother to Chester Cup winner Montaly who loves soft ground, while Equiano's don't seem to be any worse on soft than they are on faster conditions. They are only minor clues though, we'll just have to see if he likes it or not. If he travels as well as he normally does on it we could be in business. But... well, you know the other side of that coin.

1308: Over at Newmarket the card kicks off with the Randox Health Grey Horse Handicap and there's only one grey I'm interested in in this with Dark Power lining up under a penalty for that brilliant handler of sprinters Clive Cox.

I really do think he's a cracking bet even at around the best-on-offer 9/4 he is now. Cox has been very patient with this son of Dark Angel but a bit of time and a tongue-tie has done him wonders and he looks to be on a steep upward curve at the moment.

He must be well in under a 6lb penalty today (reassessed on Tuesday after winning last Sunday) and it's significant Cox turns him out quickly after saying 'it will be a step at a time' after his win just six days ago.

The ground will pose no problem, the bigger field and better race should help him settle and he just looks way too progressive for these rivals today. I have backed this beast, if you hadn't guessed.

1259: We have correspondence. Mark Craven wisely avoids the pure Arabian race at Newbury to email the blog, saying: "Hi Ben, hope this reaches you on the live blog, I regularly follow your value and daily nap bets (great service thanks). Earlier this week I backed Fighting Temaraire 16s and Nameitwhatyoulike 20s both 1/4 odds 1,2,3,4, and doubled them up to boot. I was very pleased to see they were both included as value bets, can you tell me if R4s and reduced runners will affect any ante-post payouts I might receive?"

Cheers Mark and I bring you some rare good news, there are never any Rule 4s on ante-post bets so you can watch this afternoon's racing without having to get the R4 calculator out. Unlike me. Although they still do have to go and win so fingers crossed I'm desperately trying to work out the deductions for something later on.

1250: The Nunthorpe looks an absolute crackerjack but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, there's plenty happening in the world of racing between now and next Friday including the Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2.25) at Newbury this afternoon.

Defoe is the 13/8 market leader at Sky Bet in this and he's a horse on the up after three consecutive victories from three outings this season. His form is working out really well and Ian Ogg makes him the cornerstone of his 'Multiple Choice' bet this afternoon.

Frontiersman is a danger if Jim Crowley can keep him straight and James Willoughby on Racing UK has just been telling viewers that he isn't a hound, he's got an eye problem, so watch what you say if he hangs your money away this afternoon.

The one for money, though, is John Gosden's filly To Eternity. Gosden slotted home four winners yesterday and this daughter of Galileo sluiced up at Newmarket last time. She's on the up and she's 5/1 from 13/2 today with Sky Bet.

1231: Here are the 13 six-day entries for next Friday's Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York. The big clash is on!

Alpha Delphini
Cotai Glory
Duke Of Firenze
Final Venture
Goldream
Profitable
Take Cover
Washington DC
Battaash
Marsha
Priceless
Alphabet
Lady Aurelia

1230: I really should mention Breton Rock. After all, he loves soft ground and he did beat Librisa Breeze in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood last time even though he was drawn one stall wider in 15 if you remember that incredible last-to-first late surge.

A 6/1 chance today, plenty of punters will take that as he's very reliable in these sort of conditions. There is the 3lb penalty to consider, though, and that, coupled with the likelihood that Librisa Breeze will be able to run his true race today, is enough to put me off.

1225: Let's get straight into the heart of today's action and the G2 Hungerford Stakes at Newbury (3.35). Click here for the full racecard where you'll see Mix And Mingle, Spangled and Daban don't go, reducing the field to eight runners - keep an eye on that situation for your each-way bets.

This is a fascinating tactical affair and you would expect Kaspersky to go forward at this trip, while Ibn Malik also likes to be up there. Whether Massaat will as well after a 373-day absence remains to be seen, but Poet's Vanity is another that likes to go forward so the likelihood is we're looking at a decent gallop despite the depleted field.

Which is all good news for Librisa Breeze. Desperately unlucky in-running on his last two runs, if he finds trouble today against seven rivals on the wide expanse that is Newbury then maybe we'll have to re-evaluate our opinion of him.

But today really should be the day for him. He'll have no problems with the conditions and the feeling is that he's actually better than he's even been able to show so far. With the race likely to be run to suit it's of no surprise that he's a 6/4 chance across the board.

1210: Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our live Saturday racing blog. It's the middle of August, so that inevitably means rain all around the country so please check out the goings and non-runners before placing your bets today. There are a lot of absent horses and Rule 4s out there. I'm Ben Linfoot and I'll be navigating this ship through choppy waters until Ian Ogg arrives later on when calmer seas will undoubtedly greet the king of cool.

It's a good day's racing today, though. The William Hill Great St Wilfrid takes centre stage up at Ripon, while there's some interesting handicaps at Newmarket and the Group Two Betfred Hungerford Stakes at Newbury. It's also the Randox Health Grey Horse Handicap (2.10) on the July Course, a spectacle not to be missed and it just so happens one of the bets of the day goes in that race as well.