It's the International Stakes Heritage handicap that is our target race this Saturday. We do have good racing at York inlcuding the "Dash" handicap on a busy day.
The King George is tricky and while I do like the chances of Westender the bookies sure are not taking any risks pricing him up at 6/4! Onto our selections in today's big handicap at 3pm.
A cracking competitive renewal of the international stakes handicap as per usual. The likes of Ropey Guest, Rhoscolyn & Jumby have endured hard races of late and are passed over as they look poorly drawn middle to low on top. Instead, we look further afield, and I am siding with two inform horses drawn near the stands rail. King Zain could be allowed to dominate off the front with James Doyle a positive jockey booking. King Zain won well last time out at Kempton over today’s trip of seven furlongs. He has settled in well to his new yard under trainers Harry & Roger Charlton. The handicapper hit him quite hard following his latest victory with an 8lb hike in the ratings to a mark of 102. We will find out this afternoon is that view of King Zain is correct with trip and ground fine drawn in stall 21.
Air to Air has won his only start this season on 24th June at Yarmouth. That victory was over 7f on fast ground which he gets again this afternoon. As a fresh horse we can expect trainer George Boughey to have brought him forward for this valuable handicap. Last season he won nicely earlier in the 2021 season at Newmarket and Doncaster but failed to show his true form in the Britannia stakes albeit poorly drawn low on the day. He finished off his season well with placed runs in decent handicaps including a neck defeat to Dark Lion at Windsor over a mile. This 4yo looks progressive and gets in today off a nice mark of 95 carrying 8-11. Similar to King Zain he is drawn high in stall 20 and should get a good toe into the race from King Zain
Of the rest, Dark Shift, Chiefofchiefs, Rhoscolyn or Fresh might overcome their middle draw to run a big race.
Ascot – 3:00
0.5 point each way King Zain 16/1 Betway 7 places else 16/1 Paddy Power & Bet365, both 6 places.
0.5 point each way Air to Air 8/1 William Hill paying 7 places
Compare Odds at https://www.oddschecker.com/horse-racing/ascot/15:00/winner
