Glamorous Pontefract

After 5 days of fantastic racing at Royal Ascot, there is obvíously little to get excited about today and even the Irish racing at Gowran is at a very low level. Indeed the best racing comes from Pontefract, rather less glamorous than Ascot, and the listed race over 1 1/2 miles at 16.40 CET is the only black type race of the day. Harris Tweed (William Haggas/ George Baker) has been running in better company, but has been out of form this season and possibly needs easier ground, as does Rawaki (Andrew Balding/ Oisin Murphy). In our view the two to beat are the lightly-raced fillies Freedoms Light (John Gosden/ William Buick) and Waila (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore), for the stables that did so well at the royal meeting. David O´Meara is another trainer in top form and seems to have found the key to Hit The Jackpot (Danny Tudhope), who can win his fourth race of 2014 at 16.10; he has a lot of weight here but is in great shape and scored very easily at Ripon on Thursday. Comedy King (Luca Cumani/ Andrea Atzeni) has been well backed in receipt of 21 lbs, but the form of his maiden win seems nothing special and he has to prove that he is up to this rating. The Pontefract Cup over 2 1/4 miles at 17.10 is one of a series of long distance handicaps here and CD experience is always a bonus at this track; we therefore go along with Herostratus (Jason Ward/ Kieren Fallon) who won the race last year. His form since - both on the flat and over hurdles- has been very dodgy, but perhaps a return to the scene of his biggest success will rekindle his will to win.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Lacing - Lady Moscou - Rose Of Kiev
2. Race: Smiling Stranger - Strawberry Martini - Stout Cortez
3. Race: Hit The Jackpot - Comedy King - Legal Waves
4. Race: Waila - Harris Tweed - Rawaki
5. Race: Sir Frank Morgan - Rosairlie - Embsay Crag
6. Race: Thurayaat - Likelihood - By Jupiter
7. Race: Foxy Clarets - Jaeger Train - My Inspiration