Racing tips: Soft ground will see Zinc White continue his progression at a stayer

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Silver Gunn was given a great ride by Neil Callan who tried his best to get him settled, even though the horse was a menace and didn't want anything to do with it. However, he managed to reserve enough on him and when he delivered his challenge down the outside he won in great style.

Thunder Roar in the Ayr Gold Cup Trial was backed into favourite from 10/1 and he finished 8th, which is disappointing considering the amount of support he attracted. I'd imagine the fact he sat so close to the pace didn't help his chances as many who were up there did go backwards quite quickly and the ones held up were the ones who mopped it up and took the win/places.

Beverley 4:55 – Zinc White 13/8 (1pt PaddyPower)

Zinc White isn't a great price, but I think he firmly deserves to be the price he is as the clear favourite in this small field race.

Though it's just a five-runner race, I think it's a decent race and one you could say at least three have a solid chance of winning. However, on soft ground, which I'm hoping it will be even though there is no further rain forecast, the weather isn't blistering hot so the ground should remain how it is, it means Zinc White has every chance of progressing further. It's crazy to believe that he has only run 5x as a 5yo, and if he was to come to this race without the poor run at Royal Ascot, I'd be confident that he would 1/2F, but he was running on ground far too quick for him that day, and it's to best to ignore it.

If you focus on the run at Chester, there's no doubt in my mind that he is the best horse in this race. He cruised around the bend at Chester, which is never an ideal move, but he made it look simple and he won with plenty in hand. Rightfully, the handicapper whacked him up in the ratings by 8lbs, but based on that effort, that shouldn't be enough to halt his progress again. My only concern is if this turns into a tactical race, which is normally the case in a small field race. Coltor will want to set the pace, but I'd like to think Joe Fanning on Haizoom, will keep him honest, thus making it an honest pace and not a falsely run race, which can often happen. If so, then there should be no excuses for Zinc White and if he's good enough to win, he will.

Lingfield 3:25 – Captain Kane 8/1 (1pt WilliamHill)

On pedigree and on the way he's run over much shorter, there's not much of a case which can be made for Captain Kane running over 2m, but I think he is worth a small bet with the jockey booking of Billy Loughnane catching the eye.

This horse was ultra-progressive last year, climbing through the handicap ranks at a rate of knots, from starting at 48 rated and finishing his winning at 82 rated. He hasn't won since last August, but that's probably because he hit his ceiling at a mark of 88, he has since seen his handicap mark drop to a mark which is below his last winning mark and the handicapper currently rates him as a 79-rated horse. He has been running consistently this season, he has run to an RPR of 80, 85 and 83 3x (last three races he's run to 83), but his handicap mark has dropped from 85 to 79. Billy Loughnane takes the ride on him today, so his rating is effectively 76, which is 6 lbs lower than his last win.

The thing with the jockey booking is that Billy Loughnane is 2/4 when used by George Scott on the AW, returning a profit of +8.00 to a £1 level stake, and is 4/12 on turf & AW for this yard, equalling a +15.00 profit to £1 level stake. George Scott is in great form at the moment, he racked up two winners at Windsor on Monday and is 3/10 in the last fortnight. They must clearly believe he is capable of running a big race over 2m for the first time as Billy is booked, and he is the biggest outsider of the field so is worth the risk.

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