Ahead of a busy week at Royal Ascot, the ITV cameras will be at York, Sandown and Chester on Saturday, covering a total of seven races.
- 1:50 York: Doug Johnston Memorial Ubettabelieveit Macmillan Handicap – Aalto @ 11/1
- 2:05 Sandown: Read Meg Nicholls’ Blog At betmgm.co.uk Handicap – Theoryofeverything @ 4/1
- 2:25 York: Queen Mother’s Cup Handicap – My Dream World @ 8/1
- 2:40 Sandown: BetMGM Scurry Stakes – Star Of Mehmas @ 5/2
- 3:00 York: Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Grand Cup Stakes – Al Qareem @ 7/2
- 3:20 Chester: Ladbrokes Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Handicap – Frankies Dream @ 4/1
- 3:35 York: Churchill Tyres Supporting Macmillan Sprint Handicap – Maelstrom @ 13/2
York’s two-day June meeting concludes on Saturday and ITV will be in attendance to cover four races live starting with the Doug Johnston Memorial Ubettabelieveit Macmillan Handicap over 7f. Next from the Knavesmire is Queen Mother’s Cup for female amateur riders with Born Ruler shading favouritism for Mark Prescott and Gina Andrews in an open looking contest.
Just five runners are set to go to post in the Listed Grand Cup Stakes. Absurde, who finished third in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham, heads the betting for Willie Mullins ahead of Andrew Balding’s Alsakib and Karl Burke’s Al Qareem. The final live race from York will be the 6f Macmillan Sprint Handicap. With a prize fund of £125k this is the most valuable race of the meeting and is set to have the maximum field of 22 go to post.
Two races on the ITV schedule this Saturday will come from Sandown, the first of which will be the £40k BetMGM Handicap over 1m. David O’Meara’s Theoryofeverything, Jack Channon’s Urban Lion and Richard Hannon’s Classic are currently vying for favouritism. The second live race from the Esher track will be the Listed Scurry Stakes over 5f. After narrowly missing out on victory in the Westow Stakes at York last month, Richard Hughes’ Star Of Mehmas is well fancied to go one better in this race with Ryan Moore once again in the saddle. Challengers will include Hold A Dream for Clive Cox and Coto De Caza for Simon & Ed Crisford.
Just one race will be broadcast from Chester on their Saturday Social raceday, the Ladbrokes Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Handicap over 7½f This is a class 2 race for 3-year-olds worth £50k.