Best bets for the horse racing Saturday 15th July

It has been a bit of a rollercoaster couple of days for me, I am showing a profit and that's what it is all about, but I've also tipped a couple that have run terribly! Anyway we are winning and go into the weekend full of hope and confidence. ITV are at Ascot, York and Newmarket and my fancies for Saturday follow. I am again taking a slightly cautious approach with the weather a consideration and the fact it’s the sort of day that could take your boots off if you're not careful.

Best bets for the horse racing at Ascot

Master Of The Seas is due to make his first European appearance for fifteen months in the Group Two Summer Mile due off at 2.20 but he won’t want all the rain we have been getting and has been drifting like a barge in the betting. I am a fan but can’t see him running. With Master Of The Seas almost a guaranteed non-runner this looks to be at the mercy of mud lover Aldaary All his wins have come on soft or heavy and I think the step back up to a mile will do him no harm. His recent run at Newmarket will have blown away the cobwebs after a long absence and I think New Kingdom will lead them here giving the William Haggas trained gelding a nice tow into the race. I am on at 15-8. Royal Hunt Cup winner Jimi Hendrix is feared but this is a fair step-up in class.

Best bets for the horse racing at York

One of the few highlights of Royal Ascot for Triple G this year when second in the Royal Hunt Cup Sonny Liston goes in the 1m2f John Smith's Cup Handicap at 3.10. He was of course my speculative ante-post punt for the Derby last year and though he has never reached the heights I thought he might, he is still pretty handy. “He runs off his old mark and we wanted to get him in somewhere off that mark,” said Emma Spencer, managing director of Chelsea Thoroughbreds and also racing manager for the owners. “He’s proven over a mile and a quarter and although he didn’t stay in the Derby, he was third at Chester in the Dee Stakes and then he was third in a Group Three at Goodwood.So there is a case for saying that a mile and a quarter is his ideal trip and if he runs like he did the other day and he seems to be in a good place then the race could really suit him.” It’s a wide-open affair but I have a bit of the 13-2 about him as a similar effort to that at Ascot will see him go very close.

Best bets for the horse racing at Newmarket - Boodles July Festival day three

The first of the big races at HQ is the 7f Group Two Bet365 Superlative Stakes with ten two-year-olds due to line-up at 3.25. It's hard to know what debut scorer Great Truth beat at Leicester in June but he did it very impressively. Godolphin owned horses have won this six times with the likes of Dubawi and Native Trail and it is a race they target. His trainer Charlie Appleby said on the Godolphin website “We have been very pleased with Great Truth since his win at Leicester. He definitely learned a lot that day and has sharpened up. It looks to be a very competitive renewal but we are very happy with our horse going into the race.” City Of Troy was equally impressive winning on his debut at the Curragh at the start of the month and his connections know what it takes to win this as well. It looks between the two to me and I have plumped for Great Truth at 3-1 his sire and dam having form on good-soft being the clincher but I expect it to be close between these pair.

Race of the day is the Group One 6f Pertemps Network July Cup Stakes at 4.35. With Art Power in the line-up they are likely to go a fair crack here and expect to see that one up the pointed end early. Shaquille arrives off the back of five straight victories, the last being all the more remarkable in the G.1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot having reared at the start and given the field several lengths head start. Can he improve again? Azure Blue has also been racking up the wins including the G.2 1895 Duke Of York Clipper Stakes last time but is another that will need to take another step forward to win this surely. Little Big Bear headed my shortlist at one time but the will he won’t he saga of this week worries me if the colt is 100% fit. Kinross is top-rated and will strip a lot fitter for his seventh behind the supplemented Khaadem in the G.1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes last time; that victory for Charlie Hills trained seven-year-old was a big surprise. The six-year-old won’t mind all the rain we have been getting and I deliberately held off from placing any bets till Saturday morning with the going in mind. Buick takes over in the saddle with Dettori banned and I am on at 100-30.

Depending how the Bookies chalk-up I may have a couple for Sunday at Chantilly so remember to check back.

Be lucky