York May Meeting-Day One

Day one of the York May Meeting and the going is posted as Soft,Good to Soft in places.The weather forecast is for a fair day and the rain is gone now so this track should be on the improve as the day goes on.No rain forecast for the next couple of days either so it promises to be an excellent meeting and I'm looking forward to it.

Race 1
I passed on Rye House when he won here last year at this meeting thinking 3.25 was short enough.He never raced again last season so I assume there must have been issues with him.He's up 10 points here for that win and on offer at 4.50 today.I like the horse and I don't want to oppose him but at the price I couldn't back him either. There are plenty of reasonably viable alternatives here and it's a rattling good handicap to get the meeting under way 

Race 2
This is a most open race and again a very good handicap with any number of chances.Passing here

Race 3
Oaks trial for the 3-y-o fillies. A very interesting race but not a betting one in my opinion.Lots of unexposed types as you would expect and nothing with established form on the board that I want to back

Race 4
G2 sprint.We should have a good idea if the ground is drying out significantly by now.Jack Dexter has the best form but he's a real mudder so drying conditions may reduce his form advantage.
At odds I'll go again at Body And Soul who very much fits the profile of an Easterby plot. She's a fair bit better than her two efforts this season suggest and there is a really good race in her this season. At around 16.0 she's worth an interest.

Advised Bet: Body and Soul 0.40 units at 14.0 or better

Race 5
Good 3-y-o handicap and a good marker for the future.That Is The Spirit was very impressive when waltzing up in a very strong maiden at Doncaster. He's been handed a mark of 90 so he'll need to be on the verge of Listed grade to win this but I couldn't oppose him so easily did he win. Not committed here at the moment as there are any number of potential improvers here.

Race 6
2-y-o race so I'll be watching only here

Race 7
Gabriels Star won an apprentice event at Chester last week in good style an escapes a penalty here. That was run on heavy ground though and by now this track should be closer to Good to Soft than Soft. Of course he's a solid hope but at 3.25 on Betfair I have taken him on. I think he should be at least 4.0 minumum here so hopefully the market will move in my favour and I can trade some of my liability back at better odds. It's an open race I think.

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