July Festival Day 2 Racing Tips: Yonafis and Trawlerman the two for Tony Calvin on Friday

Tony Calvin
07 July 2022
4:00 min read

Tony Calvin has two tips on day two of the Newmarket July Festival

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The two handicaps are the races of interest for Tony Calvin on the second day of Newmarket's July Festival, and our resident tipster has a selection to consider in each...

"Trawlerman was very good when slamming a smart horse in King Frankel over 1m4f at Pontefract last season and his pedigree gives you plenty of encouragement he will shine over 1m6f, as he is by Golden Horn out of a mare who won over 1m6f and stayed 2m."

Trawlerman at 8/1 each-way, five places with the Betfair Sportsbook in 15:00 at Newmarket

Let's hope the circus surrounding John Gosden and Frankie Dettori has fully played out by the time Inspiral runs in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at 15:35.

If she turns out in anywhere near the form she was in at Royal Ascot when destroying a high-class field in the Coronation Stakes then she should be justifying her heavy odds-on status (the early 2/7 was taken and she is now 1/4), but money-buying is not for us and she hardly meets four mugs, either.

And horses have been known to regress from big reappearance efforts off interrupted preparations.

There is also a disappointing turn out of just six runners for the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at 14:25.

It is a decent race but is it is not a betting heat - Lezoo would just about be my pick, for what it is worth - and, as is mostly the case, the handicaps interest me a lot more than small-field Group races.

Haggas out to repeat last year's victory in 1m2f handicap

There was an exchange move for Yonafis in the 1m2f handicap at 13:50 on Tuesday, and the fact that someone was asking for 11.010/1 prompted all the 10s to disappear on the fixed-odds front.

Weight of money, or sheer avoidance, is probably evens each of two. Actually, more like 3s-on the latter.

I can definitely see where the person requesting the 10s - the last price traded on him before the ante-post market closed was 9.617/2, by the way - was coming from.

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Yonafis went into Royal Ascot unbeaten in three starts but very curiously indeed, for a William Haggas handicapper with his profile, he was very weak in the market. He went off at 22/1 there but a colossal 36.93 at Betfair SP.

In the circumstances then, he ran well above betting expectations in finishing eighth in the Britannia, beaten just 4 ½ lengths, and shaping for all the world like a step up in trip would be most welcome, such was the manner in finished off his race.

This shouldn't have come as such a surprise given his pedigree.

He is by Golden Horn out of a mare who was beaten ½ length and a short-head (albeit in a four-runner race) over an extended 1m4f Group 2 in France, and he is a half-brother to a 1m3f winner of Haggas' , and the owner, in Baarrij.

So while he wasn't eased at all in the weights from 90 after Ascot, I think it is reasonable to expect the extra 2f will suit him.

The stable won this race with a subsequent dual Group 2 winner in Dubai Honour, racing off a mark of 93, last season. And that horse came here after finishing fourth in the Britannia, stepping up from a mile for the first time, so the similarities are striking.

I have to mention the Johnstons' brilliant record in this race though. The stable has won it six times in the last nine runnings, and they rely on Knightswood, who ran well enough at Royal Ascot, for what it is worth.

The problem is that the 10s from Tuesday is long gone, but I am willing to back Yonafis at 9/2 win-only with the Betfair Sportsbook.

That price is mirrored on the exchange - 5.69/2 at the time of publishing - and I wouldn't go any lower than 4s myself.

Dettori out for redemption on Trawlerman

Haggas may also have the winner of the 1m6f handicap at 15:00 in Candleford. He was ridiculously impressive in winning the Duke Of Edinburgh at the Royal meeting by 6 lengths in a good time, and even a punishing 13lb rise may not stop him.

His pedigree doesn't suggest 1m6f will suit, but his run-style certainly does given the way he powered home at Ascot.

However, he was never going to be underestimated in the market - he is around 7/2 on the exchange - and I am going to take him on with a Gosden horse that the aforementioned Dettori gave a moderate ride to in the same Ascot race, namely Trawlerman.

There seemed a distinct lack of urgency throughout from the Italian on the horse, no doubt much to the disappointment of those who sent him off as the 4/1 joint- favourite, and it is fair to say he shaped far, far better than a 14-length 11th would suggest.

The handicapper thinks so too, as he hasn't even dropped him a solitary 1lb, but with good reason, and the step up to 1m6f could see him get back in the winning groove here.

To add a bit of balance, admittedly nothing went right for Dettori at Ascot. The horse missed the break from stall three, and soon found himself stone-last, stuck on the inner, with the jockey having to sit and suffer.

But he never got serious at any stage, and the horse made up ground in the straight under minimal assistance. It is fair to say that Dettori accepted his fate seconds into that contest.

Trawlerman was very good when slamming a smart horse in King Frankel over 1m4f at Pontefract last season and his pedigree gives you plenty of encouragement he will shine over 1m6f, as he is by Golden Horn out of a mare who won over 1m6f and stayed 2m.

Whether or not being drawn one of 16 is fair or foul poses an awkward question, but he is worth a nibble at 8/1 each-way, five places, with the Betfair Sportsbook.

He was 11/1 in a place, and 10s elsewhere, first thing on Thursday morning at 6am, despite being 10.5 to lay on Betfair - basically odds that couldn't last once everyone woke up - so I think the 8s is a very fair guide/betting price.

We also have two ITV races from York but neither makes much appeal in truth, so I am going to leave it there.

Shorter and sharper copy than usual, but I am not forcing any lazy bets in my current form.

Good luck.