Wednesday Racing Tips: Key Timeform data highlights a course specialist

• Holkham Bay caught the eye last time

• Night Raider tops Timeform ratings

• Don Simon can open his account

Holkham Bay can notch another course win at York

William Knight and Oisin Murphy have a 29% strike rate when teaming up over the last five years and the partnership may well be successful again with Holkham Bay in York's six-furlong handicap (14:42). Murphy's only previous ride on Holkham Bay was a successful one when the likeable gelding recorded a career-best effort at Ascot in October on his final start last year.

As well as an earlier win at Ascot, over five furlongs on Shergar Cup day, Holkham Bay ran two very good races over today's course and distance last summer. Beaten a short head on the first occasion, he then went one better on his next start, turning the tables on Tiriac who had touched him off the time before.

Holkham Bay needed his first run back when returning at Southwell in March but ran much better at Goodwood last time when shaping well in fifth behind Rosario over five furlongs. But he would likely have gone closer still with a clearer run, earning the 'Horse In Focus' flag, and the return to an extra furlong here on a track that clearly suits - he also has the 'Horses For Courses' flag - makes him the one to beat.

Exciting sprinter Night Raider to prove just as good on turf

Murphy has a big chance of landing a still bigger sprint prize on York's card with Night Raider who looks the pick of Karl Burke's three runners in the 1895 Duke of York Stakes (15:13).

In contrast to his unbeaten record on all-weather tracks, Night Raider is yet to win from three tries on turf, but he had excuses for each of those defeats last year and can make amends here. Both the 2000 Guineas and Jersey Stakes proved too far for him, while soft ground at Newmarket was against him when dropped back to sprinting.

But on his final start last year, Night Raider put up a performance rarely seen at listed level when making all the running for a most impressive win in the Golden Rose Stakes at Newcastle, earning the 'Horse In Focus' flag as well as a rating which rivalled some of the top turf sprinters last season.

A combination of York's flat six furlongs and ground on the firm side could be just the combination Night Raider needs to prove himself just as exciting a sprinter on turf as he has looked so far on the all-weather. He's taken to book himself a place at Royal Ascot in a race sponsored by his owners Clipper Logistics.

Blue-blooded Don Simon can get off the mark

Back in 2010, Ed Dunlop's filly Snow Fairy provided Ryan Moore with the first of his many classic winners in the Oaks. That was also the first of Snow Fairy's wins at the top level in a globe-trotting career in which she showed high-class form.

Snow Fairy's son Don Simon, by Sea The Stars, hasn't lived up to his blue-blooded pedigree and he's still to win a race at the age of four, but he looks to have a good chance of putting that right for Dunlop and Moore in York's closing handicap over a mile and a half (17:25). To be fair to Don Simon, he remains very lightly raced, particularly on turf where he has had just one start so far, finishing a well-beaten third at Newmarket on heavy ground last year.

However, his two runs on the all-weather this spring suggest it's only a matter of time before he gets off the mark. He has finished a close second at Southwell and Chelmsford, and with Moore on board for the first time, he only just failed to open his account last time, going down by a short head to another unexposed type in Steel Tiger, a good second at Newcastle last weekend. Heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings here, Don Simon can lose his maiden tag under contrasting conditions to his previous try on turf.

Now read more Horse Racing tips and previews here