Kevin Blake Saturday Racing Tips: Take a chance on 16/1 Irish raider at Newmarket

The focus of the racing world may well be on Longchamp this weekend, but ITV Racing plays host to Group 1 action at Newmarket and a very competitive card at Ascot on Saturday that will make for excellent viewing.

For all the appeal of the Group action on both cards, it is two big-field handicaps that take my fancy at each venue and the first of them is the British EBF Premier Fillies' Handicap at Newmarket (13:31).

Irish raider is too big

This is a particularly deep handicap with plenty of progressive fillies lining up in it, but the one I like is the Gavin Cromwell-trained Dha Leath who will travel over from Ireland to contest it.

The four-year-old has found substantial improvement since joining Cromwell this season, progressing from a mark of 68 all the way up to her current rating of 84 by winning three races.

For all that she has already come up a long way in the weights, her most recent run in the highly-competitive Northfields Handicap at the Curragh on Irish Champions Weekend suggests that she is capable of being very competitive off her current mark.

In a race that was dominated by those that raced prominently, Dha Leath came from a midfield position and finishing off her race well to come home in a never-nearer fourth.

The rain that is forecast to arrive on Friday will very much be in her favour and indeed would be considered a significant boost to her chance as she has already won on testing ground earlier this season.

She is likely to be sent off at quite a big price, but it wouldn't surprise to see her run a big race.

Rain and mark in favour

Over at Ascot, I am putting my faith in another piece of handicap form from Irish Champions Weekend in the Peroni Nastro Azzurro Challenge Cup (15:36).

John Quinn has had a season to remember and he was unlucky not to add to it courtesy of Safe Voyage in the Sovereign Path Handicap at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend.

The veteran has dropped back to a very appealing handicap mark and was the only one that was able to get involved from an unpromising position in rear, flying home to finish a never-nearer ½-length second to I'm A Gambler.

The nine-year-old looked unlucky on the day and while he has been raised 3lb for that effort, he is still 16lb lower than he was as recently as May 2021.

The rain that is forecast to arrive on Friday will very much be in his favour and this course and distance promises to play to his strengths.

While he is likely to dispute favouritism for this highly-competitive contest, he very much deserves to and he makes plenty of appeal.