York - 16th May

A good meeting starts on Wednesday at York and a look at the Duke of York Stakes has uncovered a bet. The Hannon trained Libranno is a bit of an inconsistent beast but he has bits of form that gives him a good chance in this race yet he is trading at around 20/1 on Betfair. He had a lot of runs last year - some good,  some bad - but his best outing was towards the end of the campaign when he was third, carrying a three pound penalty, in the big sprint at Ascot on Champions Day. Behind him that day was a horse called Royal Rock, who ran a nice race when beaten around two lengths giving five pounds to The Cheka and Mayson at Doncaster in March. Those two animals take on Libranno tomorrow yet are a lot shorter in the market despite that line of form. A line that gives Libranno the beating of them. He seems to run poorly when either the ground is too soft or his stamina is stretched. I think 6f on good to soft ground that is drying out slowly is fine but big prices in Group race sprints are not the sort of bets that make me my money so I really am weighting this bet in the place market where I have around 4/1 after commission.

Duke of York Stakes:

Libranno £20w @ 20/1 and £30pl @ 43/10 (lost)


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