The top analyst has five horses on his hitlist for this weekend's racing including a fancy in the Sky Bet Dash.
The seven-furlong maiden stakes for juveniles on the final day of the Newmarket July meeting, formerly known as the Strutt & Parker Maiden Stakes, has a rich roll of honour.
High-class performers Alhaarth (1995), Mark of Esteem (1995), Dubai Destination (2001), Rio De La Plata (2007), Postponed (2013), Field of Gold (2024) and Constitution River (2025) have all lined up in the contest. Only seven runners took part in the 2026 version this month and it was won in decisive fashion by the Ballydoyle-trained Haffner, who is likely to be seen in Pattern company next time.
VELOCIRAPTOR shaped with plenty of promise in third only three lengths in arrears of the Ryan Moore-ridden winner. Bought for 38,000gns as a yearling and trained by Hugo Palmer (11 from 64 with his two year olds this term), he is a colt by Lope Y Fernandez and a half-brother to the Listed placed Tyson Fury. James Doyle was in the saddle on the July course and, having made headway soon after halfway, the colt held every chance entering the final quarter of a mile before tiring in the closing stages.
Both the runner-up (Al Wathba) and fourth (Subscription) arrived with lofty reputations and a reproduction of that effort ought to see him go close in the Ire-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish EBF Restricted Novice Stakes at York on Friday evening (18:40). The seven furlongs event has been won by Wells Farrhh Go (2017) and Shaquille (2022) in recent times and the pair subsequently ran in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes over the same C&D on their next start. This once raced colt may do likewise, if successful on the Knavesmire later this week.
