Racing Tips – The More Rain The Better For Montassib At York

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Yesterday's selection Sound Reason was soundly beaten on the day. He encountered some traffic problems during the race and had to be switched for a run which cost him some momentum. Even with a clear run, I don't think he would have troubled the winner but the horse is still handicapped to win races of that nature so it's worth looking out for him next time.

Wednesday brings us some decent and competitive flat racing from York. Large field handicaps on the flat tend to be a punter's nightmare as finding the winner can be extremely difficult. At first glance, the entire card at York tomorrow looks a complete minefield but I'll do my best to try and find some value within some of the bigger races.

Chillingham 9/1 EW – York 14:15

The horse I like the look of in this contest is Chillingham, who runs in the opener for trainer Ed Bethall and will be ridden by jockey Callum Rodriguez.

It's a tad concerning that Chillingham hasn’t won a race since his seasonal reappearance at Thirsk last year, but I didn't let that put me off his chances. My selection has run some creditable races in recent times, most notably when finishing fourth in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot.

The Copper Horse Handicap was won by the Willie Mullins-trained Vauban who was highly fancied that day and won pretty easily for favorite backers. Chillingham finished a fair distance behind Vauban, 11L to be exact but he didn't finish too far of the second and third. The second that day was Absurde who Willie Mullins also trained. You may remember Absurde won recently at the Cheltenham Festival in a class one over hurdles. Of course, flat racing and jump racing are two completely different kettles of fish, but the form is what it is.

My selection also finished second behind Prydwen on the AW at Wolverhampton in November of last year. The form of that second looks quite strong as Prydwen has since gone on to land two valuable handicaps.

Chillingham looked like a horse in need of race fitness as he flattered to deceive at Kempton on his seasonal reappearance and also ran below par at Ripon when not seeing out the trip.

With two races now under the belt, I'm hoping Chillingham can bounce back to the horse we saw last season and at 9/1 he is just about worthy of an each-way selection. There isn't much pace in this race, so I fully expect Chillingham to be ridden prominently from his inside draw.

Friendly Soul 10/11 – York 3:45

Backing odds on favorites can come back to bite you more times than most but I'm willing to put my head on the line with Friendly Soul, who at 10/11 still represents some value in my opinion. If he shortens any further I wouldn't advise laying the bet but there's also the chance she may drift out to even money.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Gosdens have a really nice type in the future with the beautifully bred Friendly Soul. I was hugely impressed with his success in the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket on his last outing. He traveled like a good thing for the entire race and followed up with an eye-catching turn of foot to see of the challenge of Kalpana. Friendly Soul is a horse who I'm sure you'll see over further in time but at the moment, it appears the Gosdens are keeping him to the 1m2f distance.

Montassib 6/1 – York 15:15

This looks tricky, I'll not bore you all with a full detailed write-up given the race's competitiveness, but my eye was continually drawn back to Montassib, who I've finally decided with. This is probably the race of the day for me as the flat season starts to kick into gear.

The current ground is forecast good/good to firm but with the forecast rain due at the track, it should ease a little which is why my eye was drawn back to Montassib.

Trained by William Haggas, Montassib looks like a different proposition since dropping to six furlongs. His reappearance run at Doncaster was impressive when coming from what looked like an impossible position to land the spoils within the final furlong. Montassib remains unbeaten over six furlongs on soft ground so I'm praying it buckets down with rain from now till the off as it will surely aid his chances even further.

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