Saturday Racing Tips: Kate Tracey thinks Boardman's good run of form can continue

Kate Tracey
27 May 2022
4:00 min read

Kate Tracey thinks Boardman can win again in May

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Kate Tracey fancies two horses to win races for the second year running this Saturday at Chester and Haydock. Kate also sights one of Beverley's feature races of the season for her other best bet...

"The month of May is specifically, his favourite time of year. He’s run in May six times in his career where he’s won five and was an unlucky fifth on the only other occasion."

It could be another winner for the sire, James Garfield

Saturday is proving a very difficult betting day for me this week with a lack of handicaps and any notable trends to follow. Therefore, I'm approaching this weekend differently with two of my three bets.

The first race to look at certainly wouldn't be my usual cup of tea in terms of a betting prospect. That race being the Hilary Needler Trophy Fillies' Conditions Stakes for two-year-old fillies over 5f at 14:05. This is one of Beverley's seasonal highlights which may well, once again, produce a smart type.

Of course, the David Loughnane trained Absolutely Flawless brings both an unbeaten record and racecourse experience into this contest. She is a worthy favourite to continue her winning sequence however, her price is reflective of that.

Instead, I would rather keep on the side of Parr Fire who represents the Nigel Tinkler yard. She too, comes into this race unbeaten but following just the sole career start. This filly was very easy to back on her debut which came just a fortnight ago at Doncaster over 5f. The fillies really came to the fore in that novice where they finished as the first three, leaving their male counterparts in the remaining positions.

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Parr Fire was sent off at 20/1 for that debut as the clear outsider of the field however, there wasn't much of a fluke about the success. This filly showed plenty of signs of greenness in the early stages of the race. She broke from the stalls slowly before taking a while to really find her rhythm.

The further the race went, the more the penny dropped for her and she showed a good attitude in the finish to fend off another newcomer in second.

That runner-up was an Amo Racing, David Loughnane trained juvenile with that combination of connections going great guns this season. It was therefore, a fair effort for Parr Fire to do enough wrong and to still beat that rival under a hands and heels ride to the line.

Her sire, James Garfield continues to bang in the winners as a first season sire. He's so far had just the five runners, with three of them winning. The most notable of which now is Maria Branwell who won the Listed National Stakes at Sandown on Thursday evening. He certainly looks a sire to keep on the right side of and hopefully, he can continue his success with Parr Fire.

Kinross to win another John Of Gaunt

The Group 3 John Of Gaunt Stakes over 7f at 15:30 looks one of the more fascinating contests on Saturday. The betting has been fairly cagey with this race and I'm hoping to use that to my advantage in backing Kinross at 3.7511/4.

Kinross is the highest rated horse in this race with his official rating of 114 leaving him 2lbs clear of his nearest rivals on ratings in here, Laneqash and Pogo. He is officially rated 6lb higher than the current market leader, Sunray Major which makes Kinross a very attractive bet in the hope that he's ready to roll.

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He won this race last year on the back of a three-month break which hopefully, bodes well for this being sighted as his reappearance start. He is certainly a 7f specialist and with so few 7f races around in Britain, Ireland and France, these niche horses must be tuned for when these rare opportunities present themselves.

He has the best 7f form on offer in this contest as well as he went on to win the Group 2 Lennox Stakes over this trip at Goodwood on his next outing following his success in this race.

In that Goodwood win he beat the subsequent Group 1 Champions Sprint Stakes winner, Creative Force into second. He also had the wonderful, Space Blues behind in fourth that day. Space Blues went on to reverse that form in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp.

That Lennox form is solid and is certainly the best on offer in this race. Kinross signed off with a good yet luckless run to finish ninth of 20 in the Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot behind Creative Force. This has surely been the plan for Kinross to come back and defend his crown here.

I'm also not concerned that Frankie Dettori is riding Sunray Major instead as he has to team up with his retained yard of John and Thady Gosden.

Provided Kinross is fit and ready to go, he should take all the beating.

Boardman can continue his impressive May strike rate

The final race I'm taking aim at this week is Chester's 0-105 Handicap for 4yo+ over 7f127y at 15:45. There is only one horse I have my eye on in this race and that's last year's winner, Boardman.

Tim Easterby's charge comes here in top form yet is still able to run off just a 5lb higher mark than for his success in this race last season.

He is also well drawn in stall 2 where I'm hoping he won't get stuck on the rail as he is a hold up performer and that is a slight concern. However, this race tends to lend itself to horses being ridden further back which is contrary to the general bias at Chester.

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He has had a similar preparation coming into this race as he had last year where he had three starts under his belt whereas, he has the four this time around. He is again coming into the race on the back of a win and the spring is certainly the time to catch him.

His form tends to tail off in the summer, hence why he remains on a feasible handicap mark now. And the month of May is specifically, his favourite time of year. He's run in May six times in his career where he's won five and was an unlucky fifth on the only other occasion.

He's also had the perfect turnaround time coming into this contest exactly two weeks since his last run which has proved a notable trend for the race. Everything looks laid out to expect Boardman to win this race again.

He's proven his liking for this course and distance on multiple occasions and there's no reason not to expect Boardman to go very close again.