3.05pm Newmarket Tips & Betting Preview 02/05/2015

Race Time: 3.05pm Meeting: Newmarket Distance: 1m 4f
Full Race Name: Dunaden At Overbury Jockey Club Stakes Group Two Class One

Free Tip: Telescope at 1/2 with Bet365

Well this may be a Group Two, worth a tidy sum to the winner (£100,000 guaranteed prize money), and one of the “old school” races so well known in equine circles, but to my horror it has only attracted the bare four runners which makes our life a little easier I suppose – a mention and a paragraph for all the participant certainly seems the best way forward.

Pether’s Moon (3/1) starts our little list and has at least had the benefit of a run this season when second to Arab Spring at Newbury, and with the Hannon horses seemingly improving for a run this year, he may well add to that here with fitness on his side, though whether even his best form (arguably when winning the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot), is really enough to take this is open to some debate. We don’t think he is up to the task, but then again he should not find it too difficult to finish in front of Odeon (25/1). James Given has his string in decent enough form, and Graham Lee is brilliant and strong in the saddle, but even that combination will have their work cut out to improve the four year old the stone or more needed to take a hand here, and I suspect he is only really here to mop up a bit of place prize money, which would still be a generous £5,360 for finishing stone cold last, more than the winner gets for some of the lesser contests. His one career win was in a Redcar maiden in April last year, and when last seen he was 108 lengths seventeenth in the November handicap – and if he wins here we would love to b e a fly on the wall to hear the explanation of his improvement in front of the Stewards!

Two to go and Second Step (13/2) has to be of interest with Newmarket trainer Luca Cumani firing in a few winners already this season. His three wins from six races make him a force to reckon with but once again, his best races seem to have been on ground with plenty of give in it, and if the rains stay away, where will that leave him? He did at least score on good going at Newbury but that was “only” a handicap and we have no evidence as yet that he can step up in to this class based on what we have seen at the track.

Luckily for Sir Michael Stoute and owner Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, they seem to have found a pretty easy race to start Telescope (1/2) in for this season, as he looks to live up to the hype that has followed him around since his 2012 debut. Fact is, his form is head and shoulders above even the best his rivals can throw at him, with places behind Derby winner Australia and Oaks winner Taghrooda last season as well as the seven length Hardwicke Stakes victory at Royal Ascot on fast ground, so all in all he is close to impossible to oppose.