Tuesday’s Racing Tips – Step up in class will be no issue for Doha at Pontefract

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It was a great start to the week with 3 selections winning on the day.

As expected, Garden Oasis won from the front, while Sea King did enough to win under a strange ride from Paul Mulrennan. Rizzel managed to land a lovely 8/1 winner, a cracking call in a race that I wouldn't have called had you given me a week to study it.

Cairnzy's Tips

Doha 7/4 – Pontefract 3.10

The best race on Tuesday looks to be this one, a class 1 event over the mile, with some nice types coming into this with solid claims.

It's hard to look past Doha, who comes here with the best form on offer after recently winning the class 2 Kensington Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Doha is a beautifully bred filly by Sea The Stars out of dual Arc winner Treve and she's probably one of the most attractive horses in training at the moment.

I started following this horse after she flattered to deceive on debut at Kempton. I stuck her in my tracker after her debut run as I refused to believe she could be that bad. On her second outing, she disappointed once more, finishing fourth at Leicester and just under 10L of the eventual winner Queen Of Pride. Queen Of Pride has gone on to win at group level, so I guess the defeat on that occasion doesn't read all that bad.

Doha opened her account at the third time of asking when winning at Windsor by a whopping 9L. That contest was only a class 5 maiden and although it has produced winners since, nothing that represents a high level has come out of it. Regardless, you can only beat what's in front of you and she did it impressively on the day.

Doha was then off the track for 221 days before making her seasonal return at Haydock, which saw her disappoint favourite backers again when going down by a neck on the line to David O'Meara's Never Ending. I'll be honest, after her seasonal reappearance, I assumed she was going to float around the 80 to low 90s mark, which in racing terms is pretty much bang average.

Her win at Royal Ascot was a massive step forward and one I didn't expect in the slightest. She's been raised 10lb for that success but if able to build on that effort, she could take this step up in class with ease.

Rizzel's tip from a couple of days ago, Elim also runs here, Elim was announced as a non-runner yesterday, which I will assume because connections fancy their chances in this. Elim opened up at 20s and is now into 8s so the each-way value on that one is gone but it'll be interesting to see how Elim fares in this.

Flaccianello 5/1 – Pontefract 3.40

I have this race between market leader Room Service and Flaccianello and I've decided to take the market leader on in this instance with Flaccianello, who could represent some value at 5/1 to upset the apple cart.

Room Service of course has to be respected, his form figures aren't that inspiring to the eye, however, he's been given some tough tasks to date this season when contesting at listed and group level on his previous two outings. Room Service wasn't disgraced in those runs either when going down by 6 and 3/4 lengths to Elite Status at Newbury and 4 and 1/2 lengths to Esquire at the same track. His mark of 100 asks some questions of him but this drop in class is an easier assignment to of which he's been running in of late.

Flaccianello also comes here with a big chance, receiving weight all around and arriving on the back of a solid second-placed effort in a class 2 handicap at York last month. My selection was highly tried as a juvenile, with three wins from seven outings. Room Service and Flaccianello actually met before last year at Doncaster, a race that was won by Room Service in the end, with Flaccianello finishing just under 5L back in fourth. I feel my selection has the potential to progress past Room Service this season and her recent second at York behind Craig Lidsters Alfa Kellenic is definitely a step in the right direction given that won has won three on the bounce and is clearly a progressive sort.

Rizzel's Tips

Get Up Mush 6/5 – Uttoxeter 5.35

I really like the chances of Get Up Mush in this Class 4 Handicap Chase for the Skelton team.

Get Up Mush made a nice impression on chase debut on the back of a 400+ day break at this track last time out. I definitely prefer when Harry Skelton rides his mounts from the front rather than from the back, but to be fair to him, he was spot-on with his tactics on Get Up Mush last time out. I think connections knew that the horse was a fair amount ahead of the handicapper on chase debut, hence why Harry caressed his horse into the race at the right time, gave him one tap with the whip and the horse was comfortably in front and won with plenty in hand. It was an impressive chase debut and the horse would've learnt plenty as Harry got him jumping lovely at the back and when he asked the horse to pick up, he had to meet the fences on different strides and he managed to get over the successfully, which will be a great experience for today's race and more in the future.

That run at Uttoxeter was his first run in over 400 days, so he was entitled to have needed that run, if that was the case and he wasn't close to 100% then he could be a runaway winner in today's race.

The ground shouldn't be a concern for him as he was third on his PTP debut on soft ground when behind a well-regarded horse from the Gordon Elliott stable who has since won at the Cheltenham Festival and has finished 3rd in a Grade 1.

As for the others in the field, nothing really screams out like a huge danger. The Philip Kirby horse would probably be top of the list given he arrives with a win next to his name and the stable is in great form at the minute, but I just think he lacks the potential of my selection. Vicki Vale probably is better than what we've seen from her but she has left Dan Skelton's yard and is now with Deborah Cole. No disrespect to Deborah, but I highly doubt she'll be able to improve this horse more than what Dan did.

Butterfly Garden 8/1 – Tramore 7.15

With these selections being typed up well before the odds have been compiled, it's a surprise to see the forecast odds on Butterfly Garden, who is at an EW price.

I firmly believe that Butterfly Garden has a superb chance in this ‘Tramore Derby Handicap', which seems a strange title for a 47-65 handicap race, but it's a decent pot for the grade with 8,850Euros going to the winner. I can't really get too enthusiastic about the majority of horses in this race, but with Butterfly Garden you have a horse who is running off a decent handicap mark on old pieces of form, and she returned to racing with a good effort last time out. That run was in February, so fitness is still a question for her today, but given she has run some solid races when fresh in the past, I don't think there's much to worry about. She has dropped from a rating of 76 to 56 in just over a year, but at the age of five, it's hard to see her ability has totally gone. She ran some good races in defeat last year, mainly in the summer, but towards the end of the year her form did drop off, but her run in February was definitely better.

It's interesting that Gary Halpin is on board, as he is 2/3 when riding for Kevin Prendergast this season, and those two wins have been the only wins for the County Kildare based trainer. One of those wins came four days ago on a 14/1 shot, and the other three runners he has had in the last fortnight have run well. Gary's only defeat for Kevin this season finished third, so he's been in the money on every start for him this year, accruing a profit of  +15.25 to £1 level stakes.

The soft ground won't be an issue for Butterfly Garden as she managed to win at this trip on a slow surface off a mark of 71 (she did have a 10lb claimer on board). She is also 1/1 at Tramore, so a lot seems to be falling right for her to run a big race today.

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