York and Fontwell

The going will be on the firm side at both U.K.meetings today.York stages an above-average card for a Sunday, wih the listed Garrowby Stakes over 6 furlongs at 15.55 CET the main feature. Lady Rothschild is having a tremendous season as an owner and her 3yo filly Mince (Roger Charlton/ James Doyle) looks the answer here. She has won 5 of her 10 starts and looks very progressive; the obvious danger in Inile (David Nicholls/ Daragh O´Donohoe), who is the top-rated runner. Nicholls has not had a great season, but his horses are running much better now, and Inxile, although a winner on heavy going in Ireland recently, goes well on fast ground.

The handicaps here look very tricky with huge fields, but William Haggas and Paul Hanagan have obvious chances of winning the 10 furlongs race at 16.30 with Jawhar and the 6 furlongs event at 17.35 with Heeraat, both owned by Hamdan al Maktoum. There is however little value in their prices and for those who prefer better odds, we recommend Jonny Lesters Hair (Tim Easterby/ Ted Durcan) and Gabriel´s Lad (Denis Coakley/ Kieren Fallon) respectively.

The card at Fontwell is less exciting, but we like course specialist Orion Star (Seamus Mullins/ Daryl Jacob) in the staying chase at 1815; he won this race last year, and although his two runs this year have been very poor, he is back to the same rating now and back to his favourite track on his preferred going. We always like to follow German-breds over jumps and Sadlers Star (Michael Blake/ Tom Cannon) must have as chance in the 2 3/4 miles handicap chase at 16.05; he is a CD winner and also goes best on the firm.