Ascot, Pontefract and Kempton

Easily the best racing of the day is at Ascot which stages its first flat meeting of the year. As this fixture is part of a new initiative to promote racing, there is free entry today, while as an experiment some bookmakers will be betting to decimal odds, although we cannot see that this will make much difference. Main event is the Group Three Sagaro Stakes over 2 miles at 16.55 CET.

With Yeats retired, the staying division looks very open and several pretenders to his crown line up here, among them German-bred Askau Tau (Ryan Moore), one of 3 Marcus Tregoning entries. This late developer has won 7 of his last 11 races, including the Doncaster Cup, but as a result must give away at least 5 lbs all round. We still think he can do it, with Akmal (John Dunlop/ Richard Hills), who won 7 races last year, the main danger, followed by Yes Mr. President (Mark Johnston/ Joe Fanning) and Mojave Moon (Mahmoud al Zarooni/ Ahmed Ajtebi). The two listed races are also of interest. Our Jonathan (Kevin Ryan/ Jamie Spencer) is another penalised runner, having won a French group race last autumn, and he may not be able to give the weight to Mon Cadeaux (Andrew Balding(/ William Buick) in the 6 furlongs race for 3yo´s at 17.30. The mile race for older horses at 16.20 looks tricky, as some of the 5 runners are coming off long breaks, such as Abbeyside (Paul Cole/ Frankie Det tori) and Minor Vamp (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes), both smart 2yo´s who missed all of last season. So did Roger Charlton´ s Cityscape (Moore), but he made a good comeback when 4th of 23 at Newbury 11 days ago, and he is the selection.

Mahmoud al Zarooni, who trains for Godolphin, has a better chance of saddling his first British winner at Pontefract, where Lion Mountain (Ted Durcan) can win the 3yo maiden at 15.55. The Tiger Hill colt was only beaten a short head on his only start last year and that form should be good enough here. The fillies handicap over 10 furlongs at 17.05 is the best betting race here. Aphrodisia (Ian Williams/ Steven Donohoe) won recently, with Bollin Dolly (Tim Easterby/ David Allan) a close 4th and Antigua Sunrise (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) further back; but at these weights the result could well be different this time, while seasonal debutant Some Sunny Day (Hughie Morrison( Travis Block) looks a big danger.

Most of the jockeys riding at Ascot move on to Kempton´s evening meeting, where Richard Hills and Frankie Dettori can win the two divisions of the fillies maiden at 19.35 and 20.05 with Tregoning´s Wajanaat and Michael Jarvis´ Towbaat respectively.