Our horse racing tipster gives his best bets from a busy day of horse racing at Newmarket and Ascot.
World class filly Porta Fortuna was incredibly impressive last year as a two-year-old. Winning back-to-back Group 3 races at Naas and Royal Ascot early in the season before winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes race here in the latter part of the flat season.
She has trained on beautifully and proved she is more than the horse who was just as good as a two-year-old, she is the genuine real deal.
Second in the 1,000 Guineas here on reappearance only losing by a neck to Elmaka, she improved on that run by then winning the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot fairly convincingly, going away from her rivals through the line. This is the first time she has taken on older fillies and mares, however this race is easier than her last two and she should utilize her proven track record here, to win again.
Three-year-old gelding Condor Pass was unraced as two-year-old. He began his racing career at the start of this year, running twice on the all-weather at Kempton Park. He came third on both those occasions leading to connections to make the decision to geld him in search for further improvement.
Since the operation he has duly delivered, coming second on turf debut at Nottingham, before taking full advantage of his experience to win on the fourth attempt at Carlisle. That was on soft ground so any further rain will only improve his chances of success. He was keeping on well at Carlisle so the extra furlong will also be of no issue. He will have to improve further now stepping into handicaps but there is no reason why he shouldn’t continue his upward trajectory.
The last race on the card at Newmarket is a wide open handicap, with some horses looking to recapture their best form and some looking to continue their good form. No Half Measures is well fancied for this race stepping down in grade after her Royal Ascot third. The booking of Ryan Moore has further encouraged bettors, but slight preference is given to fellow three-year-old filly Good Good Good.
Undefeated in her two starts at Yarmouth and Leicester. The latter being a very simple match race as the rest of the field withdrew. But her debut performance was incredibly impressive when she won with ease by more than three lengths. The second and third from that race both won next time out. The handicapper has been fairly generous, only giving her an opening mark of 80 and she should be able to take full advantage of that to continue her unbeaten run.
