2.15pm Newmarket Tips & Betting Preview 13/08/2016

Nurseries are basically handicaps for two-year-olds and as they are invariably improving at varying speeds they are notoriously tricky to work on though in this case the Hannon yard have won two of the five renewals, once in 2012 with Light Up My Life trained by Richard Hannon Snr and0 then again in 2015 with the useful Bahaarah and this year he has two entered though Somebody To Love (10/1) looks the number one choice with Pat Dobbs in the saddle. After hacking up at Sandown to take her maiden over five furlongs, he found the heavy going all against her here at Newmarket when last of seven in the Listed Empress Stakes but ran a lot better next time when less than five lengths behind Roly Poly in the Group Two Cheery Hinton Stakes when a tardy start hardly helped, but this represents a pretty massive drop in class but carrying top weight of nine stone seven may be enough to stop her.

We prefer the chances at a price of the Charlie Fellowes trained High On Love (16/1 Each Way) , a choicely bred daughter of Requinto out of a Desert Price mare who drops to a nursery after trying her luck last time out in the Listed Star Stakes at Sandown. After winning her maiden at Windsor she was thrown in to Group class at Royal Ascot in the Albany Stakes which was beyond her, but returning today to a far more realistic level she has a superb chance and is the one we want to be on to start the day with a bang.

Trainer Richard Fahey likes these races and in Clef (6/1) he has a very serious contender after her recent fourth to Rajar here with the well regarded Parsnip four places and a length and three-quarters further back. That rival has chickened out of a re-match this afternoon but the daughter of Dutch Art would probably have confirmed the form regardless with the extra furlong expected to bring about even further improvement she could well make the most of the eighteen pound she gets from the top weight.

Trying to work out how good a once raced horse is has never been easy but when they win it’s that little bit harder and Shozita (2/1) is a great example. Ralph Beckett’s daughter of Showcasing took her maiden at Salisbury by a length at odds of 5/1 in a Class Four event but this is a very different kettle of fish. She will need to improve before stepping up this afternoon but that seems pretty likely after the one run, and we will be watching her carefully both in the betting market and during the race.

To end our race preview for now, and Kevin Ryan’s Bongrace (13/2) arrives here in good heart after wins at Musselburgh and Newcastle, both over this seven furlongs. Her stamina is not in question nor her form but they were a Class Five maiden and a Class Four Nursery, and put up eight pounds she may well find some of these a bit too good for her.