Tony Calvin: Tough betting heats for Friday's ante-post races at Newmarket

• Busy weekend of racing coming up

• Cambridgeshire and Arc meetings provide top billing

• Tony takes an early look at Friday's action

The three-day Cambridgeshire meeting arrives at Newmarket on Thursday, with the ITV cameras rolling in on Friday, and it looks like starting on a mixture of good and soft looking at the current going description and next week's weather forecast.

That is normally a prompt for you to read and hear "no excuses ground" comments being trotted out, with some justification admittedly this time.

It is pretty much a meeting for punters who love Group and conditions races (of which I wouldn't be the chairman of the board), and a bit of gossip thrown in for good or bad measure, but let's see what we are dealing with on Friday.

I was quite surprised to see the Sportsbook have odds on all four non-handicap ITV contests that day as Listed and Group races are notoriously hard to price up, which is probably why only six bookmakers have bothered with them all.

But as we have them, I thought I would make an early start on a quiet Sunday morning (I decided to give the 10km charity run in London a miss), and do my first ever Friday-only ante-post column.

I appreciate I may miss out on some double-entered horses by going early, with Saturday's fields in England and Ireland obviously not known at the time of writing - and I have just remembered we have the Arc weekend, too - but hopefully it shouldn't be a massive factor for three of the four Friday races.

Tread a bit more carefully with the other contest, the 7f Rockfel Stakes, as some of the 10 juveniles in there may be given the option of the 6f Group 1 Cheveley Park on Saturday (that said, Soprano is the only horse in both races at the moment, and I can't see any of the others being supplemented, to be honest).

Ylang Ylang out for redemption in Rockfel

As I have mentioned the Rockfel at 15:00, I may as well kick off with that.

Surprisingly, Aidan O'Brien only has one entry, and that is Ylang Ylang, priced up at 4/15.00 by the Sportsbook.

Aunties and uncles I know, but she would have been nearer 6/42.50 for this had she not gone to the Moyglare and blown out - she finished last when sent off at 6/52.20 there - so you have to work out whether the price is adequate compensation for that pretty lamentable effort at the Curragh.

O'Brien has often coaxed horses back to winning form immediately after dire efforts many times in his career - I remember Power winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas three weeks after finishing 17th of 18 behind his stablemate Camelot at Newmarket - with Auguste Rodin the obvious recent example, but 4/15.00 doesn't entice me.

The race has predictably been priced up very defensively as who knows what are the likely runners, but it is no surprise to see the unbeaten Shuwari head the market at 15/82.88, given she beat the subsequent Moyglare winner Fallen Angel and Soprano at Sandown.

Big field entries provide more questions than answers

The opening 1m Listed race at 13:50 has attracted 23 entries and it must have been a nightmare to price up, as the official ratings alone tell you that any of a dozen can win, if not more. The betting pretty much tells you that too, with six of the field put in at 8/19.00 or shorter, with Coppice the 3/14.00 favourite.

The 3yo+ 1m4f Group 3 Fillies and Mares at 14:25 has also attracted a very healthy five-day entry of 17 and Running Lion heads the betting here at 5/23.50, though she still has an Arc entry, as unlikely as that may be.

Again, I wouldn't have liked to have been tasked with coming up with a set of ante-post odds for this race, and I would have done so to about 200% if requested. And maybe a touch more.

For starters, just how many of the five Irish entries will rock up? Will they stay at home, or even go to France?

And I also don't get the logic of having a 3yo+ 1m4f Listed race on the same Newmarket card. It seems planning madness, but we should be getting used to that in UK racing. Azazat , Gather Ye Rosebuds and Imperial Quarter are entered in both races.

Joel Stakes another tight betting heat

The 10-strong Group 2 Joel Stakes at 15:35 looks a bit more manageable in pricing and betting terms, which is why seven bookmakers have got involved here.

The Sportbook make Chindit and Maljoom the 7/24.50 joint-favourites, and both could not have more differing profiles.

Chindit won as recently as Sandown last Wednesday, but we have not seen Maljoom since that unlucky fourth in the St James's Palace Stakes over 15 months ago.

Actually, I am rowing back on the manageable comment, as this looks really hard to call at this stage.

Last year's winner Mutasaabeq is a 4/15.00 poke , and then you bring in Ancient Rome, Epictetus and Mighty Ulysses, all at 5/16.00. You can tell that this is a another very tight betting race.

Ancient Rome is actually the current top weight in Saturday's Cambridgeshire.

I'll leave it there. I wanted to make a headstart as it is such a busy week ante-post wise - as well as the Cambridgeshire and a big day at Newmarket on Saturday, we also have the first forfeit stage for the Arc on Monday - so see you tomorrow, no doubt, and maybe on Tuesday as well.