Mill Reef Stakes Tips & Betting Preview

Perhaps not as important on the racing calendar as it used to be it still takes a pretty decent horse to win this Group Two contest which was taken by Ribchester for Richard Fahey last season at odds of 13/8, making him the first winning favourite since 2013 though overall the jolly has a five win record from the last ten renewals if you include joint favourites that is.

As expected, Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnson has left one of his early entries in here and relies on Sutter Country (8/1) who win his first two races at Wolverhampton and Newmarket before ending up fourth when sent off favourite for a Listed race at York. He did look as if he was crying out for a sixth furlong that day hence the step up in trip this afternoon but this is a much stronger event and he ought to have his limitations exposed unless he shows dramatic improvement.

As a son of Mayson we are pretty hopeful that Global Applause (6/1 Each Way) will handle the softer going as well as any and better than some and come home in front for trainer Ed Dunlop. He has already won at Sandown and Newmarket over five furlongs and run well in Group company with a third to Yalta in the Group Three Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood and a fourth to Blue Point in the Gimcrack Stakes at York and if he repeats either of those efforts he has a better chance here than his odds suggest and is the one we will be putting our own money on.

If you follow the money then Richard Hannon’s Legendary Lunch (7/2) has a good chance with Ryan Moore in the saddle. Last time out he finished a good second to Ardad at Doncaster in the Flying Childers Stakes over five furlongs running on strongly and ought to be better suited to the sixth furlong now, and with form on good to soft going including a win at Windsor he has every chance of handling the newly formed underfoot conditions.

Looking for each way alternatives and Clive Cox has perhaps surprisingly entered Harry Angel (7/1) here even though he is still a maiden. A nose second at Ascot back in May is the only form we have to go on and clearly nowhere near to good enough for this Group Two contest yet the fact that they see fit to enter him at all suggests he is working well at home and may give us a clue as to how good they must think he really is.

Last but not least and Marco Botti is another young trainer still on an upward curve and he has Unabated (10/1) entered here. He would have been well held by Mokarris (a late non-runner) on his poor ninth behind Blue Point at York but ran respectably enough when third to The Last Lion in the Group Three Sirenia Stakes at Kempton and if he can repeat that effort back on the turf he has a small chance of sneaking in to a place at a big price.