Saturday’s Horse Racing Preview & Tips- 1st July 2023 – Seymour Biz

saturday horse racing tips and previews from expert tipster seymour biz on everytipFind all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.

It’s a very early start to ITV Racing on Saturday with the first televised race at 12.20 and the programme finishing at 2.30. This is to facilitate a Women’s Soccer friendly whilst ITV4 is taken over by the Tour De France so we can see where the Sport of Kings, the second most attended sport behind men’s football in the UK, comes in the pecking order by television

companies.

OK, rant over, let’s look and see what we have to deal with on Saturday – the main meeting is at Newcastle where we have the Northumberland Plate, aka The Pitman’s Derby, as the highlight. This is backed up by a consolation race for those horses who did not get in the Plate plus a Group 3 and a handicap.

I have to say I find it hard to get as excited about the Plate now it is run on the Tapeta surface compared to when it was a slog through the Newcastle turf.

The other meeting on offer is on the July course at Newmarket where three races are covered, two Listed contests and a Group 3 and that is it for the terrestrial channels.

Here are my thoughts for these early races and this week’s Lucky Fifteen.

Saturday Lucky Fifteen
12.40 Newmarket. What A Question
12.20 Newcastle. Raatea
1.30 Newcastle. Thermoscope
2.05 Newcastle. Zoffee
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365

The first race on the Newmarket card is at 12.40, the Maureen Britain Memorial Empress Fillies Stakes run over 6 furlongs on the July course.

Charlie Appleby’s Star Of Mystery is likely to go off favourite but the stable and especially Godolphin are under something of a cloud after having no winners at Royal Ascot so she is worth taking on despite a fine victory at Haydock a fortnight ago.

William Haggas’s Indispensable finally won her maiden at the third attempt when winning a lowly contest at Ripon last week, more is needed here.

Jonathan Portman’s Cry Fiction found all sorts of trouble on her racecourse debut in May. She dwelt, needed a reminder and was carried left but still managed to come home first at Windsor. She can feature at the finish.

Neverstopdreaming won at Pontefract for trainer James Horton earlier this month but that was a pretty lowly contest.

But my preference is for Charlie Johnson’s What A Question who won a pretty hot affair at Goodwood two weeks ago by almost five lengths. A repeat of that form may see her take this.

Newcastle starts at 12.20 with the JenningsBet Festival Handicap run over 6 furlongs on the Tapeta surface. There is an Irish raider here with Gordon Elliott’s Coachello whose latest win was at Meydan in January since then he has been highly tried without success and drops back to handicap company here but he has plenty of weight.

Kevin Ryan’s Magical Spirit has been running well at this level. He won at Doncaster in April but is untried on this surface.

One who is used to all-weather surfaces is David Simcock’s Tiger Crusade having won at Lingfield and Southwell this year, he can go close.

Keith Dalgleish’s Soldier’s Minute win on an all-weather surface last year was a fine effort but has not risen to that sort of form this season. He did show some signs of improvement last time at York and may hit the frame.

I prefer Julie Camacho’s Raatea who just got home at Haydock earlier this month. He was a winner here at Newcastle in this race last year and can repeat that victory.

The 1.30 is the JenningsBet Northumberland Vase Handicap run over 2m 56yds. This is a consolation race for those horses that didn’t get into the Plate.

One of the favourites will be Ian Williams’s Blow Your Horn who has rattled up a treble of wins in June. Those victories have come on turf when he has been plying his trade for the past year on the all-weather without success, he may go close.

Heather Main’s Mostly Sunny is a course winner and he ran a fine second earlier this month at Goodwood, a repetition of that form may see him go close.

Sean Woods’ Appier has a major chance in this. He is a dual winner at Gosforth Park. However, he steps up in both class and distance.

I will take a chance with Keith Dalgleish’s Thermoscope who was a course and distance winner last October. Since then, he has won at Musselburgh in May and a third-place run at Hamilton can be excused as it was half a mile below his favoured distance.

The big race of the day is the JenningsBet Northumberland Plate Handicap is at 2.05 and is run at the same distance as the Vase, 2m 56yds. William Haggas’s Post Impressionist is highly fancied after ending last season with a fine win at York in October. He is well drawn in stall 19. However, this is his first run of the season and he has never run over 2 miles so I will oppose him.

Hugo Palmer’s Rajinsky is the class horse in the lineup having won a Listed race in April. He was fourth in this last year so gets the distance but his weight is a problem.

Sir Mark Prescott, who trained the Arc winner, runs Omniscient who won on the all-weather at Southwell last October but he has never raced above 12 furlongs so it would be some training feat to take this.

Deborah Faulkner’s Golden Rules won on the all-weather over 2 miles at Kempton in March and a repetition of that form could see him in the frame.

Haggas has another runner with Nathanael Greene who won twice last season and ran really well to finish fourth at Goodwood last month, he can go very close.

Another to go close is the winner of last year’s Vase Hugo Palmer’s Zoffee. He was second in the Chester Cup in May. His latest run at Royal Ascot was over a longer distance than he prefers so this should suit him. He is well drawn in 16 and I make him my selection.

Saturday Lucky Fifteen
12.40 Newmarket. What A Question
12.20 Newcastle. Raatea
1.30 Newcastle. Thermoscope
2.05 Newcastle. Zoffee
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365

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