listed race at Pontefract

main race in the U.K. today is the listed Pomfret Stakes over a mile at 17.05 CET at Pontefract. Most of the 8 runners have form at this level, while Aesop´s Fables (Saeed bin Suroor/ Kieren Fallon) actually won a Group One last year, the Prix Jean Prat when trained by Andre Fabre. It seems rather ironic that Gabrial (Richard Fahey/ Robert Winston) has a penalty for winning a listed race at Doncaster in April, while Aesop´s Fables has none for his Group One victory, but those are the race conditions, and with the Godolphin operation if full swing, we make their runner a confident selection. Storm >King (Jane Chapple-Hyam/ Pat Cosgrave) and Arsaadi (William Haggas/ Liam Jomnes) could run into the places.
Ascot stages the third day of its July meeting, but the card cannot be compared to the high class racing we had yesterday and handicaps take centre stage. We fancy Scatter Dice at 16.05 and Love Marmalade at 17.15, both trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Joe Fanning, the improved Grand Denial (Clive Cox/ Steve Drowne) at 16.40, and Long Awaited (David Barron/ Shane Kelly) at 18.20, but these are all very tricky races.
There is also a low evel card at Carlisle but, rather strangely, no racing at all today in Ireland


Betting forecast:
1. Race: Northern Water - Back Lane - Captain Midnight
2. Race: Madrasa - Gosforth Park - Bavarian Nordic
3. Race: Barren Brook - Tuscan Fun - Muharrer
4. Race: Aesop`s Fables - Gabrial - Trade Commissioner
5. Race: Al Khan - Colonel Mak - Capo Rosso
6. Race: Inaad - Bordah - Be My Rock
7. Race: Sir Geoffrey - Beauty Pageant - Majestic Manannan