2.10pm York Tips & Betting Preview 15/05/2015

Race Time: 2.10pm Meeting: York
Distance: 5f
Full Race Name: Langleys Solicitors EBF Marygate Filies’ Stakes (Listed Race)

Free Tip: Delizia at 5/1 with Bet365

Numerous flying fillies are expected to show up for this two year old contest and with £40,000 in guaranteed prize money that comes as no surprise, though suggesting the winner wont be so easy with so little form to go on.  We have always liked it when Silvester De Sousa rides for Mark Johnston and this afternoon is no exception as he is currently booked to ride the once raced Delizia (5/1), a winner at Wolverhampton with a bit in hand back in early April. They clearly think quite a bit of her at home and she is said to be working very well ahead of this renewal and she already looks like the one they all have to beat.  Adrian Paul Keatly is not a trainer we know a lot about to be fair but the Irish handler has a good record with his British raiding parties with three out of nine at Ayr and one out of one at Chepstow, though Athas An Bhean (5/1) will be his first runner at York as far as we can see. A daughter of Royal Applause, she hacked up on soft ground at Cork on her one and only racecourse visit to date and could be anything, though she will almost certainly be encountering a much quicker surface this afternoon.

Richard Fahey pairs up again here with Paul Hanagan on board Sadie Babes (10/1) and as they are such a formidable team, she needs further investigation despite her maiden status.  Although not necessarily bred to be speedy being by Iffraaj, she defied her genetics with a good debut at Musselburgh to finishing two lengths second to Furiant with no real excuses. Easy to back in the on course market at odds of 15/2, we fully expect her to improve hand over first for her first run but then again, she will need to if they expect her to get even close to some of these this afternoon. Even considering an unraced filly in a race of this magnitude seems silly but then again if trainer Kevin Ryan thinks White Bullet (12/1) has the right attributes he may well know best.  A daughter of Exceed And Excel she is bred to be pretty speedy and may well be burning up the home gallops but with inexperience counting very much against her she is not for us though we will be watching her run with interest for future races.

Lastly, we do sometimes feel there can be value to be had via the smaller, lesser know yards and Mel Brittain certainly fits the bill. He sends French (11/2) here and she is equally difficult to gauge after one win from one attempt when she scored by a length and a half at Ripon, running on strongly over the minimum trip, though it needs to be noted that the ground was plenty soft enough that day, and on her breeding (her sire is Monsieur Bond), she may well need plenty of cut in the ground to be seen at her best again. She did admittedly clock a reasonable time in the conditions, and we may be underestimating her chances (it can be so tempting to side with the “big guns” sometimes), and come race day we may see enough light to at least consider her as value for money each way alternative to the favourites.