Ascot's 14:10, a listed handicap chase staged over two miles and a furlong, looks a pretty competitive affair but the booking of Barry Geraghty on the Nick Gifford-trained Fairy Rath catches the eye, and he gets the vote. The seven-year-old got back on the up, returned to a sounder surface, when scoring over C&D in April and he posted an even better performance to go in again at Haydock the following month, digging deep under pressure to hold off Conquisto by three-quarters of a length. Fairy Rath will have to defy a 7 lb higher mark here but the suspicion is that he has not finished progressing yet, and he is fancied to take this.
Buddy Bolero (15:20), a seven-year-old trained by David Pipe who was included in the 2013/14 Timeform Horses To Follow publication, has had just the three starts over fences to date and looks to be on a handy mark on his seasonal reappearance. Buddy Bolero made a most promising start to his chasing career, scoring at both Exeter and Leicester, before heading to the four-miler at the Cheltenham Festival, where he was a little disappointing in only finishing fourth, failing to make the anticipated improvement for the step up in trip. However it is still early days and he could yet do better, so we shall side with him here.
The final race at Newmarket, due off at 16:00, is an intriguing seven furlong handicap. Four Winds has returned to winning ways in claimers recently and could be on a fair mark now back contesting handicaps but the one we most want on side is My Kingdom, who quickly returned to form at Warwick last month and will be suited by a return to this trip. Great Expectations and Personal Touch head a list of others to make some sort of appeal, but My Kingdom looks to be on a workable mark and can take advantage.
Timeform SmartPlays:
Back Fairy Rath in the 14:10 at Ascot
Back Buddy Bolero in the 15:20 at Ascot
Back My Kingdom in the 16:00 at Newmarket
