Two-year-olds in the spotlight

5 meetings today, and the most interesting card is at Newmarket, where 6 of the 7 races are for two-year-olds, four of them maidens. With large fields of well-bred and mainly unexposed runners from the top stables, these races should be watched for future reference but they are not really good betting races. We do however expect Frankie Dettori, nearing the end of his contract to ride for Godolphin, to take the mile race at 16.40 with Saeed bin Suroor´s Ikhtisas, who made an excellent debut at Salisbury recently. The best betting race is the mile handicap for fillies at 17.45, the only race on the card for older horses. Plenty of possibilities here, with No Poppy (Tim Easterby/ Dettori), Raheeba (Mark Johnston/ Joe Fanning) and Shena´s Dream (William Haggas/ Liam Jones) all on a winning streak, while Subtle Knife (Giles Bravery/ William Carson) has been first or second on her last 7 starts. However they are all up in the weights as a result, so we prefer a couple of runners a t the top of the handicap, who have been running in better grade races: Raasekha (Charlie Hills/ Tagdh O´Shea) and Hippy Hippy Shake (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon), who are both coming down in distance. Tuscania (Lucy Wadham/ Freddie Tylicki) is an interesting longshot, but Hippy Hippy Shake is our main hope here.

There is also flat racing this evening at Kempton, with maximum fields in most races but mainly at a low level, and at Navan in Ireland. Our best bet there is Exact (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien), clearly not one of the stars in his powerful yard but possibly good enough to take the mile handicap for 3yo´s at 16.45.

There is N.H. racing today at Fontwell and Worcester. The former track, with small fields and heavy going, offers little of interest, but Worcester has some decent races with top trainers such as Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls strongly represented. Nicholls runs Irish point-to-point winners Wilton Milan and Fox Run in the two divisions of the maiden hurdle at 17.20 and 17.55 respectively and with Ruby Walsh aboard, they could both win, although the opposition is strong. Henderson can counter with Seven Woods (Andrew Tinkler) in the opening novice chase at 14.40.

Newmarket - betting forecast:
1. Race: Desert Image - Capella`s Song - Whatever You Do
2. Race: Yarroom - Rottingdean - Miraaj
3. Race: So Beloved - Hoarding - Rhamnus
4. Race: Ikhtisas - Hasheem - Mujazif
5. Race: Duke Of Perth - Shemaal - Prairie Ranger
6. Race: Hippy Hippy Shake - Shena`s Dream - No Poppy
7. Race: Quintilian - Sennockian Star - Monsieur Rieussec