Wednesday’s Racing Tips – City Of Troy can confirm his dominance in the Juddmonte at York

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Top Of The Class proved to be a class above in her race. She made smooth headway after being positioned towards the middle of the pack and when the cutaway came she managed to get the gap when pulled wide, as the horses went towards the rail. When she got in the clear it was all over.

Rizzel's other horse, Big Zou wasn't great. He had every chance to get involved but when the race livened up with a few furlongs to go he was left well behind and had nothing to offer. Professor Tickle was backed from 33s into 12s and I was feeling a bit optimistic when I saw the money come in. The horse ran a stinker and was never involved which was a similar scenario for my other selection Oolong Poobong who drifted out to 13/2 and was under pressure a long way from home.

Tomorrow marks day one of the Ebor festival at York, as usual, these festivals can be tough to call winners due to the severe competitiveness of the races. On day one we've gone more for each-way selections, except for City Of Troy who is a strong favourite to land the Juddmonte.

Cairnzy's Tips

Diablo Rojo 25/1 EW – York 2.25

The market seems strong on the chances of both Ruling Court for Charlie Appleby and William Buick and The Lion In Winter for Aiden O'Brien and Ryan Moore. Those jockey and trainer combos are normally marked up short in the market anyway, but I think they can be taken on in this contest. Charlie Appleby hasn't got a great record in this contest so be it only had three runners and none of them have won. Aiden O'Brien's record is even worse, with zero wins from the last 15 attempts since 2021. From the two that head the market, you would have to say that all eyes are on the expensive purchase Ruling Court who cost a whopping 2,300,000 at the breeze-ups and won most impressively on debut at Sandown last month when romping home by over 5L. The form of his debut run and also been boosted with the third coming out and winning next time out. With that said, 5/6 is incredibly short and not a price I'd want to get involved with.

The horse that stood out to me was the Amo Racing runner Diablo Rojo, who at 25/1 is worth a small each-way play if you fancy taking on those towards the head of the market. I was hoping Bet365 was offering an extra place for this contest however that's not the case this time round, so it's the standard 3 places that we've got to work with. Diablo Rojo is beautifully bred, being a son of one of my old favorites Pinotubo, and we all know what that one went on to achieve. Of course, my selection has a fair way to go to reach those sorts of heights but he's beautifully bred nonetheless. Similar to Ruling Court, Diablo Rojo was all impressive on debut, bolting up at Redcar to win by three and a quarter lengths. The second and third have yet to run since however, the fourth-placed Gold Star Hero won next time out which gives the form a boost.

City Of Troy 5/4 – York 3.35

Putting up City Of Troy may come across as a bit of a kop out, but the Juddmonte International is the best race of the day and I have to put up the horse that I feel wins the race and City Of Troy is that horse. I was tempted to go down the forecast/tricast route to add something different but you can make claims for plenty of this field if drawing a blind eye to City Of Troy and I opted to play it safe and stick with the outright winner.

City Of Troy is the one to beat, there is no two ways about it, and if he turns up on song it will take something incredibly special to beat him to the line. I was initally worried about City Of Troy this season after flopping in the 2000 Guineas, but he quickly put minds to ease when winning the Derby, seeing of the challenge of Ambiente Friendly who finished over 2L behind my selection on the day. I was even more impressed with City Of Troys win in the Eclipse at Sandown. Initially you'd assume it wasn't as impressive to the eye than his win in the Derby, but it's the fact that win came on soft ground on a tough track like Sandown that stood out to me as real solid performance. Furthermore, Al Riffa who finished second behind my selection at Sandown has since boosted the form by winning a Group 1 over in Germany. I can't really comment on the form of that Group contest as I don't follow German racing, the only horse I knew in the line up was Charlie Appleby's King Of Conquest who flopped that day however had good form at Listed level prior to that contest. City Of Troy has yet to run at York, however, I think the course will suit him down to a tee and a return to a faster surface will see him hard to beat in his current form.

Although not advising as a tip to be tracked on the thread, if I was to have a silly side bet on the tricast I'd probably go City Of Troy, Bluestocking,Ambiente Friendly.

Rizzel's Tips

Holkham Bay 6/1 Each Way 6 places – York 1.50

It could be foolish to go for the favourite in such a wide-open sprint race to start off the York Ebor Festival, but I can't get away from Holkham Bay in this race.

There are many progressive young sprinters lining up for this race and Holkham Bay is one of them. The last two races he seems to have found his mojo after hitting the crossbar on his two previous runs to his two back-to-back wins. William Knight's 4-year-old is a course winner from two runs ago over 6f, and even though that was a nice performance, I think the 5f win at Ascot at the Shergar Cup meeting is the standout piece of form that he has produced.

Last time out just over a week ago at Ascot, he looked sensational. I know that the Shergar Cup isn't for everyone, but you cannot be anything other than impressed with the performance of my selection on his first start over 5f this season. The way he went through the race was visually impressive and when the jockey asked him to extend, he did that and won by 2.75L, and did it with ease. He beat some seriously good horses that day, with the likes of Dream Composer back in third, who has won the Epsom Dash this year and has since won a Sunday Series race at Pontefract on the weekend just gone. Adaay In Devon was back in fourth and she has been one of the fillies to follow this year with two Listed wins, and a Group 3 placed effort.

Based on the Ascot run it makes you think why haven't they tried Holkham Bay over the minimum trip this year as he seemed to love it? Today he is going up by half a furlong, but it's a much flatter track compared to Ascot and I think he looks suited when tracking a strong pace, which looks inevitable in today's race where there are many hot-headed sprinters who like to get on with things. He is drawn on the near side rail, which will have it's pros and cons, but I think there will be pace all over this race, and as long as young Brandon Wilkie can avoid a troubled passage, he should be hitting the frame at the very least. Brandon claims a very handy 5lbs, which is very helpful given he has gone up in the weights by 10lbs for his last win.

With six places on offer, you'd have to be crazy to not go each way, no matter how confident you are.

Get Shirty 16/1 Each Way 5 places – York 4.10

There is some cracking racing at York this week and the opening day is up there for one of the best racing meetings of the year so far. There are some quality Group races, but I just can't get involved in them, and I thought this extended two-mile race looked like a nice opportunity for Get Shirty to run a big race.

It feels like an eternity since Get Shirty joined the O'Meara stable from France back in 2021, but that's probably due to the amount of times he has run and has run in some very big handicaps and even Class 1 races. He hit the ground running on his second season for David O'Meara when winning four races in five runs and then managed to finish 5th/20 in the Ebor. That run in the Ebor came off a mark of 110 which saw him carrying top weight on that occasion, which in hindsight was a huge performance and it gives plenty of optimism that today's race, albeit that was two years ago, is a nice chance for him. He clearly has a liking for the track, and despite getting on in age, he is still operating a decent level.

This season connections have gone down a slightly different path, with the last two runs over the marathon trips. It was probably worth exploring and given he was 4th/20 at Royal Ascot over 2m 4f, they probably thought that was the avenue to focus on. He did run a blinder to finish fourth that day as he had to come off the pace and when Tudhope unleashed him down the outside he bridged some of the gap to the leader, but I think that the trip did stretch his stamina towards the finish, shown by him not getting closer to those ahead of him. Last time out was a blowout and was far too bad to be true at Glorious Goodwood, and the handicapper has dropped him a 1lb for that. Given he has shown a good level of form this year other than his recent start, he is definitely a horse to be onside with off a mark of 90 given his past exploits when running well off 100+. David O'Meara is mustard as a trainer for the big handicaps at the biggest festivals, and in a race which looks a lot more competitive that it actually might be, I thought Get Shirty offered a serious amount of each-way value.

The wide draw isn't a concern as he was the widest of all in the 2022 Ebor and still managed to finish in the places, and that was over 2f shorter. I think he is better over the longer trips now and they do tend to fan out when turning for home, which does give opportunities to the horses from the rear to get a clear run. You have to be wary of the Gordon Elliott horse who could be on a good mark, but this looks like a tougher assignment than what he had last time out and given he is carrying top weight and is short enough in the market, Get Shirty looks to be the no-brainer each-way money.

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