Horse Racing Trader’s Tips: International Racing – Thursday 21st May
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Our expert Joseph Kyne looks ahead to the day’s International action
The French government may have withdrawn its approval for racing to continue in some park of the country, but there are still plenty of meets to enjoy.
The eagle-eyed will have spotted that Paris-Longchamp’s abandoned card has been moved to Deauville, with racing at other French tracks too including Nantes and Lyon-Parilly.
We’ve also got two Listed races on the card from Hannover in Germany, and no fewer than five Stateside meetings featuring Gulfstream Park and Charles Town in the early evening from 17:45.
Race to Watch – 10:40 Deauville
The Prix Gold River at 10:40 looks to be the race to savour at the Deauville track. The 1m 6f listed race for Fillies and Mares contains several big names in French Racing and some of the best jockeys in the land.
Christophe Soumillon rides Eidsa in the colours of HRH the Aga Khan, who looks to be the stand-out runner having been placed in a Group 2 contest at Longchamp last autumn.
She won’t have it all her own way, as one of her challengers Thing Of Me won by four lengths last time out, and has never finished outside of the top two.
It’s made an intriguing contest even more intriguing, with several of the other big yards also represented in the race.
Punters should disregard Andre Fabre’s runners at their own peril, with the renewal hopefully providing a cracking contest to start the day.
Gulfstream Park
One rider it certainly pays to follow at the Gulfstream Park track is Puerto Rican jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.
He’s been the leading rider on the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012 and has topped the National Earnings List for Jockeys for the past two years.
After taking five weeks off, Ortiz Jr is back in simply incredible form and operating at a 31% strike-rate so far this season.
It could be worth keeping an eye out for any of his rides at Gulfstream today, especially when he teams up with trainer Wesley Ward.
One of his best chances to triumph on the whole card could be on board Brasstown, the Saffie Joseph Jr-trained horse in race three at 18:45.
The five-year-old hasn’t got any winning form of late, but he’s been running in much better and tougher races than this. He’s proven over course and distance, with the huge drop in class and switch back to dirt likely to stand in his favour too.
Ortis Jr. booked rides: Ocean Air (17:45), Flying Aletha OR Lime (18:15), Brasstown (18:45), Fractorzation (19:15), Alaskan (19:46), Mountain Breeze (20:16), Star Juancho (20:49), Centsless Drama (21:21), Admiral Lynch (21:52) & Bahamian Park (22:24).
All odds and markets are correct as of date of publication.
