2.40pm York Tips & Betting Preview 11/05/2016

2.40pm York – Infinity Tyres Stakes (Handicap) Class Two – 6f

A fiendishly competitive handicap where it may be worth sniffing out some each way value and we think God Willing (14/1 Each Way) could fit the bill off his low weight of eight stone five. Trained by Declan Carroll in Malton, the five-year-old has one win to his name from fifteen starts which fails to inspire, but has placed on numerous occasions and looked in rude health on his return to action when third to See The Sun over this trip at Doncaster. Six pounds better off for two lengths, he is weighted to reverse the placings with that rival, and as he stays further and has raced in better company in the past (he was fourth to Kingston Hill in the Group Three Autumn Stakes as a two-year-old), if they have him close to his best he could yet be outstanding value this afternoon and well worth an each-way punt with the escellent Silvestre De Sousa in the plate.

Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara took this in 2015 with Algar Lad and will look to double up in 2016 with Highland Acclaim (16/1) who hasn’t won a race since 2014 but has been slowly slipping down the weights to what could be a winning mark. History suggests he likes good going or faster and six furlongs so all is good as things stand, and he is now back down to exactly the mark (94) of his last victory, and must have better chances than his odds seem likely to suggest. His supporters will have to take his fitness on chance as he has been off the track since last October, and as we have mentioned, some of the stable horses have looked as if the need the run, but at a big price he could still run a decent race.

If there is a well handicapped beast in the line up then See The Sun (10/1) stands out to us after his recent impressive win at Doncaster, though we do note that was on very soft ground. His last win before that was in June 2014 and he looked to be going backwards race on race, but after a decent break trainer Tim Easterby appear to have rejuvenated him somehow (front running may have been the key), and as he has won off of 90 on good ground, if they try the same tactics again here (and they work), then he may take some catching and still races off of two pounds less than his best ever winning mark and a place surely beckons.

What goes around often comes around in this game and there will be those who feel that Mythmaker (20/1) deserves a change of luck after unseating Paul Mulrennan shortly after the start last time out at Chelmsford. Prior to that debacle he had landed the odds at Lingfield when sent off the 2/1 favourite and scoring a shade cleverly for the Bryan Smart stable, and if he breaks on level terms and declines to swerve in to his rivals today, he is not without an each way chance off of just the three pounds higher rating here, with Connor Beasley in the saddle this time around.

To end with, the jockey booking of Ryan Moore to ride Tatlisu (11/1) by trainer Richard Fahey catches the eye, though he is another who may need to drop a pound or five in the handicap. This is his grade and his trip but he hasn’t won (or even looked like winning) in his last three races, again since being rated over 100, and although sure to strip fitter for his return at Ripon he may struggle to cope with some of his lower weighted rivals today.

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