Thirsk, Newton Abbot and Yarmouth

Royal Ascot casts a long shadow and the other three meetings in Britain today are scarcely worth a second look. The only other racing this afternoon is at Thirsk; it is often worth following top jockeys when they are in action at the minor meetings, and Darryll Holland may be able to land a double here in the first two races on the Mick Channon-trained 2yo´s Scenic Pass at 15.15 CET and Blusher at 15.50. He also has a chance in the main event here, a class 3 fillies mile handicap at 17.00 with Marco Botti´s Princess Taylor, but William Haggas` Maghya (Martin Dwyer) looks capable of improvement and could be the answer here. This evening there is flat racing at Yarmouth (all class 5 and 6 races) and a N.H.card at Newton Abbot. At Yarmouth, Ed Dunlop, who scolred with a similar type at Windsor last night, can take the mile handicap at 21.00 with top-weight Hasty Retreat (Jamie Spencer), who has consistent front-runner El Dececy (Steve Parr/ Franny Norton) to beat. At Newton Abbot, Paul Nicholls, who has an amazing strike rate at present, can take the class 3 handicap hurdle at 21.15 with top-weight Sporazene (Harry Skelton), who has been racing - without much success- in much better company. Warpath (Evan Williams/ Paul Moloney), who been chasing but is much better handicapped over hurdles, is the obvious danger.