York Horse Racing Tips: Two handicap debutants to start Ebor Festival with 160/1 double

• Day One at York and Wednesday's double uses five and six places

• Sprinter drops down in class from Commonwealth Cup

• Alan Dudman has two big prices on the Knavesmire for Wednesday

York Ebor Festival Day One Superboost

It is the opening day of the 2024 York Ebor Festival and Wednesday looks set to be a cracker, especially with the feature Group 1 Juddmonte International seeing an amazing turn out of entries.

Betfair ambassador Ryan Moore has the plum ride in the contest, teaming back up with Derby and Coral Eclipse winner City Of Troy.

If you fancy City Of Troy and Ryan Moore to land the 15:35 at York you can now back it at the Superboosted price of 7/42.75 from 5/42.25!

Listen to Day One York Ebor Festival Racing Only Bettor Tips...

York - 13:50: Back Pocklington @ 16/117.00 E/W

York starts with a fiendish 6f Handicap at 13:50 with a maximum field of 22 for the opener and a host of chances here are on the shortlist, but I mentioned in this week's Antepost column that if you crack one of the handicaps at York, you'll get a price, and Pocklington is certainly that at 16/117.00.

We also have the generous six places on the Sportsbook for a dart at Geoff Oldroyd's 3yo, who goes handicapping for the first time and is one of a number of unexposed runners taking on more hardened sprinters.

Pocklington came onto my radar very early as he's a half-brother to the yard's Doctor Khan, a more than useful horse with pace, and Pocklington has a fair size about him too.

He started emphatically with two wins on the All-Weather, and while he hit a flat spot on his debut at Newcastle, he was impressive on his second start in turning over the hot favourite Army Ethos under penalty, with jockey Harry Russell saying afterwards: "I thought the quicker we get through the gears and striding out, the more chance I've got. He's an exciting horse."

Oldroyd ran him in the Listed Carnavon Stakes at Newbury in May, and that was a hot race for a Listed contest, with Elite Status since winning a Group 3 and he's now rated 111+. A stack of three-figure horses were in that, but Pocklington didn't help himself racing too keenly.

Last time he was seen in the Commonwealth Cup, and despite the visor, didn't make an impact at Group 1 level, and he was a 40/141.00 shot.

Today is his first run since a wind op, and I am hoping that has the desired effect as he overraces, and with the visor retained, I think he's a fascinating contender here from 96 - which could be on the stiff side, but we haven't seen the best of him yet.

Drawn in 21 is something we'll have to have a guess up on and see how racing pans out today.

York - 17:20: Back Scatter Penny @ 17/29.50 EW

It's very much a "God's Own Country" double today with two Yorkshire runners, and Joanna Mason has a chance to excel again on board the unbeaten Scatter Penny - and I was a little surprised to see the filly at 17/29.50 for this despite her being 2-2.

Scatter Penny's win at Pontefract last time was as convincing as you can get - winning by 4L. She still looked green, but she got out from stall five, used her pace and was untroubled.

It was a race where the five sectionals out of six furlongs were aggressive, as the stiff finish and early speed resulted in a finishing percentage of 94%, so on that, that was a pretty decent effort to finish off the race like she did.

Plus she had a penalty there.

She won a fairly weak Maiden at Nottingham on her debut, but with Mason on board, and with pace for her Nursery debut, York might suit her better than Pontefract and I am looking for a big run from a mark of 85.

Mason has a fair record in terms of placed runners from her rides with around 25% hitting the frame without winning.

Now read Alan Dudman's Big Race Verdict on today's York Juddmonte International here!