Listed race at Pontefract

easily the best racing today comes from Pontefract, where the listed Pipalong Stakes for older fillies and mares over a mile at 17.00 CET is the main event. With owners and breeders looking for black type, this has a strong field of 10 runners, 3 of which ran in the Group Three Princess Elzabeth Stakes at Epsom´ s Derby meeting. Gifted Girl (Paul Cole/ an/Tom Queally) ran really well there to be runner-up, with Ladys First (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) a close third and Ultrasonic (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) not far away in third. In theory Gifted Girl should come out on top again, but Ladys First has since run an excellent race at Royal Ascot to be second to the smart Duntle, while Stoute/ Moore runners can never be discounted at this level. Hippy Hippy Shake (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon) also has a chance, while for those looking for a real longshot, we recommend Semayyel (Clive Brittain/ Brett Doyle), who won a listed race on firm ground at odds of 125/1 last year.

Another one we like here at a good price is Lady Poppy (George Moore/ Peter McDonald) in the 5 furlongs handicap for 3yo´s at 16.30. She is bred to be very fast and is closely related to Overdose and after a couple of sub-par performances has dropped to a very favourable weight.

The all-weather cards at Wolverhampton this afternoon and Southwell this evening are very poor -all races at class 5 and 6 Level- and in our opinion are best left along.

The jumping cards at Uttoxeter and Roscommon this evening are more interesting. At the former track we expect the 6yo mare Emerald Glade (Jim Best/ Tony McCoy) to defy a 20 lbs hike in the weights and win her third race in 15 days at 19.15. Once these mares start improving, there is no knowing how far they can go. A German-bred to watch here is Isobar (Dpnald McCain/ Nick Slatter) in the conditional jockeys novice hurdle half an hour later; he is by Monsun out of a Mondrian mare and makes his debut here.

There are also a couple of German-breds in the 3 mile handicap hurdle at 19.55 at the Irish track, but with 19 runners this looks too tricky. The novice hurdle at 18.55 looks more interesting; the Aga Khan-bred Shamar (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh) had quite decent flat form in France and could be another star for the top team in Irish jumps racing.

yesterday: No Loose Change won 12-1!