By Tony Calvin - 22 July 2026
The grandiose title of the Jump Jockeys’ Nunthorpe belies the fact that this is a routine 0-80 5f handicap , but it is a harmless novelty and a fair few high-profile National Hunt boys (no women) are participating this year.
And there is an important charitable element, too.
That shouldn’t also extend from loose bets transferring cash from punters to bookmakers, and this race would hold minimal interest for me.
At least, the jumps’ boys are on largely point-and-shoot speedsters from the front (see pace map below), so it is just a matter of them keeping it simple and not going overly-quick.
Easier said than done perhaps.
There is pace everywhere here from stalls 1 to 17 so where you want to be is anyone’s guess – York have provided going stick readings across the track, so that may help you.
Brian Hughes rides likes a mouse over jumps and he is on Mon Na Slieve from trap one on the far side and he is an uncomplicated ride if he wants to go from the front as usual. The horse goes well here – he has won here and has never run a bad race in five starts at the course, from considerably higher marks than his current one of 76 – and is on a falling handicap mark (down 7lb this year) despite some good efforts in defeat.
He looks an okay price at 12s – and the best bet in here if you want one – but you’d like to see his out-of-form trainer Kevin Ryan have a winner on Friday (he didn’t) and, as alluded to above, this is a bit of a crapshoot and not for me.
But some early-birds have seen Managing Director, representing last year’s winning trainer and jockey combo, cut to 7s from 9s in a place.
Mon Na Slieve, 12s when I wrote the race preview above and 9s when the Sporting Life’s Matt Brocklebank tipped him mid-afternoon, is now into a mere [11/2] tops. Lethal Nymph has also been clipped into [7/2] early doors, perhaps artificially so.
At best prices, it is even money that either Dark Issue or Alta Regina wins this 2yo 6f Group fillies’ race – and that is probably fair enough.
But I’d much rather be on the other side of that betting coin myself and have the field running for me, as I think you have plenty in your corner.
I actually backed Velozee at 16s each-way earlier in the week to small sums – I have just checked and I was allowed a maximum of £15.75 such is the state of modern bookmaking – so I am glad she has rocked up, and she could still have some betting mileage in her at a general 10s.
To be honest, I possibly won’t be pressing up myself, though I am probably odds-on to weaken and do so at 10s, but having Paddy Twomey on your side is rarely a bad thing (he is operating at a 20 per cent strike rate in Ireland with his 2yos after a 11-1 success in a Listed race in midweek, and he is 1 from 3 with his youngsters in the UK this season, too) and I thought his Velozee was ready for another crack at this 6f trip after being beaten less than four lengths in the Queen Mary last time.
And she is actually the highest-rated filly in here on her Irish mark of 99, though Alta Regina finished a head and a nose in front of her at Royal Ascot.
Of course, that hardly represents a high bar for a Group 3 contest – and the once-raced winners Miss Kodi and Nuit d’Eclair (David Egan will be hoping to boot that one home after this week) haven’t been assigned a mark yet – but the 10s about Velozee remains the best bet in the race for me.
Predictably the one firm offering four places are just 8s.
Dark Issue and Alta Regina are now [7/2] joint-favourites , with Moonrise and Miss Kodi shortening up.
Miss Kodi was as big as 16s and 14s yesterday and is now [15/2] tops. She is the biggest shortener at this early stage.
Fivethousandtoone is out (coughing).
A maximum field of 22 (now 21) for the Sky Bet Dash, but no balloted out horses.
A quick admission before I crack on.
Hands up (baby, hands up – one for the 50 years+ readers there) I only started looking at this race on Thursday afternoon – I didn’t bother ante-post – and when I did one horse stood out at the prices.
Evening Blues.
And I managed to get some 22s and 20s.
Of course, that is of no use to those reading the column now as he is 14s across the board – 18.0 to pennies on Betfair as this race preview goes live at 12.34pm on Friday – but I personally wouldn’t like to laying that each-way, maybe with the odd extra place or two thrown in, too.
This is clearly hugely competitive but I like his draw in one, immediately inside fellow forward-goers Pocklington and Eternal Sunshine, and this horse has a lot of untapped potential over this 6f trip.
He showed good form over 5f and 6f at two in Ireland but then was tried over trips ranging from 7f to 1m1f before Stephen Hanlon (who took over the horse from Ger Lyons in February after being bought for 82 bags) dropped him to 6f here last time, when he ran an absolute stormer from the front to finish second at 50/1 to evens favourite Hello Spaceboy in a 14-runner handicap.
Plenty thought the well-regarded winner was a handicap good thing there but Evening Blues made him work for the length victory and the third was 3 3/4 lengths away.
In the circumstances, a 4lb rise to a mark of 87 was very fair (he started the 2026 season rated 88) and he really could progress now that they have found his best trip. Having just his 10th start here, the 3yo has a lot going for him.
Hanlon is not a name I am familiar with but he is 7 from 74 this season and he had a 150s poke beaten just 3/4 length last week, his only recent runner.
Considering these sprint handicaps are roulette betting mediums, I am surprisingly keen on his chances.
I haven’t seen a great shift in here, though Red Spells Danger and Stratusnine have been clipped into 4s and 6s respectively.
My fancy Evening Blues is into just 9s best from 14s (22s and 20s on Thursday, as I said) but he is [13.0] on Betfair to the usual small sums, so he may well drift.
I’d say he was cut on the back of little money.
I shan’t keep you long here.
I think form stand-out Touleen will win and isn’t a bad price at all at [5/6] with four firms and I am not tempted to look for an each-way alternative – at this stage anyway – with the dead-eight.
In fact, Arisaig must have been put in this race with seconds to spare, as I didn’t notice her inclusion when decs-tracking around 9.59am.
Trainer Charlie Johnston does tend to throw a few late darts, though.
Kon Tiki is the obvious each-way angle at 4s, but there is over 24 hours to go before race-time and plenty of time for a non-runner.
I saw no obvious pace in here.
Very little change here, if any, with Touleen still [5/6] in a place and currently [1.92] on Betfair. £59 is available at that price – fill yer boots.
She is surprisingly weak though at the moment. Perhaps the lack of pace is a worry for some, and it probably should be.
The dead-eight remains in tact…
This 165k 1m2f Group 2 contests always seems to struggle for numbers, and it is probably a race that could be binned off with little complaint.
I am sure York and the various racing committees would disagree but this race hasn’t attracted eight runners in the last 10 renewals – I gave up looking at that point – and we have just five here for a 93k+-to-the-winner pot (only eight at the five-day stage).
Don’t get me wrong, it certainly has the requisite class for the grade once again this year, but the race isn’t working in its’ current pre-Goodwood slot, is it?
Maybe move it elsewhere on the York calendar, but that is one for sharper minds than mine.
Anyway, Damysus would probably be my pick of the current prices at the general 3s and it wouldn’t surprise me if he went off favourite. Certainly, if he returns to the form of his hugely impressive Earl Of Sefton win in April he could take plenty of whacking – he went off 18/5 for the Lockinge after that – especially with last year’s winner Royal Champion carrying a 5lb penalty.
And the stable are absolutely flying (see below).
Dante winner Item is obviously a dangerous rival but Damysus would get my vote and I may have a little nibble at 3s.
Again, I saw no obvious pace in here.
Maybe Dancing Gemini will crack on, maybe Item. Maybe even Damysus.
Basically, I don’t know.
I said I wouldn’t be surprised if Damysus went off favourite, with his stable in rip-roaring form, and he is clear market leader at [9/4] in the early exchanges.
That is a pretty tight price as well but it is obviously a loosely-formed market at this stage.
Down to 16 as Akkadian Thunder is out (lame).
I can’t see a concrete bet at the current prices – and I couldn’t see a front-runner either.
Extremely Zain must be considered a rocket in some quarters to be put in at a best-priced [2/1] in this 150k 17-runner 7f handicap – one firm are as short at 13/8 for goodness sake, though I guess the Betfair win-only price is only 3.25 – and he may well be one, running off a mark of 101.
But he is a big no thanks at the current prices, and the two that interested most each-way against him earlier in the week, Amazing Journey (5lb well-in) and Completely Random, have since shortened into 8s and 9 at best odds.
They are generally shorter though – though it looks like the former may shorten (now 13/2 best at 4.29pm) and the latter lengthen – and, although both really should be suited by 7f (they are currently winless over it), they are probably now walkaway prices, especially as I am not a fan of Amazing Journey’s low draw.
In addition to no normal front-runner (unless I missed one), I only have two general prominent racers in here, and of those, Stellar Sunrise, makes the most appeal of the outsiders at 22s (though 34.0 on Betfair).
He even looked a bit wayward when winning well at Newbury earlier in the season and he has been gelded after two subsequent underwhelming runs, so maybe the cruellest cut (expect Jason Weaver to say that if he is on ITV duty) could reinvigorate him.
Nuts off, game back on, maybe. But he is drawn low in two, too.
I haven’t had a bet yet.
No significant changes in here from yesterday afternoon, with Extremely Zain available at [5/2] in two places and the 5lb well-in Amazing Journey clipped further into [11/2] from [13/2].
The latter is available at 7s win-only, though.
With only Bay City Roller not confirming on Thursday – at least we are thankfully spared Richard Hoiles’ puns and song references with that one… (only joking Rich) – we are left with an absolutely top-drawer field of nine for the King George.
It is effectively a six-runner race from a betting point of view – how sad it is to see the dual 2025 Derby winner Lambourn being soured on the front end, and he’d my dream winner of this – and , ranging from 17/10 Calandagan (top with AKBets) to 10s Kalpana and Goliath, they certainly all have their chance at their respective odds.
I know it is the done thing to have a strong opinion on races as good as this, but I don’t think it has a great betting shape now , each-way or win.
Throw in the fact that Aidan O’Brien is presumably going to look to have the Ballydoyle Wall in place turning in, and we could have a hard-luck story in here, too.
Last year’s Calandagan winner is clearly the one to beat at his best, but has he been at his peak this year?
Are we underestimating the Japanese challenger Masquerade Ball at 4s? Probably, and if Lambourn would be my dream winner, I’d take 1.01 that Ascot’s Nick Smith wants him to win.
He’ll get at least three more trips to Japan out of that…
I couldn’t have Benvenuto Cellini at 3s earlier in the week, and still can’t at 5s to be honest, even though he has clearly hit a more realistic price.
Minnie Hauk, 13/2 with one bookmaking outfit, is here – which presumably a few weren’t expecting – and clearly a big player after a smashing return to form when second to the world’s (joint) best Ombudsman over 1m2f at Royal Ascot.
I can fully see the case for last year’s Arc runner-up at 13/2 (currently 8.8 on Betfair win-only) , even if Graeme Rodway thinks she is a very average horse and an old boat (his pre-Arc assessment of her, to be fair).
G’wan Plodders, tell us what you really think.
Even so, I just wonder whether Ryan Moore would rather be on her, than the stablemate, the 3yo and potential stallion (mind you, you can never tell these days after Continuous and Lambourn).
Last year’s runner-up Kalpana looks a solid if far more spectacular proposition at 10s and, if we are right as billing this as one of the best renewals of recent times, maybe it will be a little disappointing if a 120-rated 5yo mare obliges, though of course she can win.
Or indeed the 119-rated 6yo Golaith.
I have decided not to have a bet at the current prices but Goliath probably came closest at 10s, and 12s-win only on Betfair.
Obviously, he , and Christophe Soumillon, owe me big-style after that bad beat in the Hardwicke – I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – he is in his element over 1m4f round here on quick ground (he won this race handsomely in 2024) and he is certainly no forlorn hope.
He promises to be coming home hard off a fast pace (though maybe Ballydoyle may want to engineer a slowly-run race?) and, if I play on the race, it’ll be him win-only at 12s+.
I am sure others will disagree, but it is not a particularly attractive each-way race to me now.
Basically, because I can see six of these placing.
And any of them winning at a push.
Nothing much has changed at the top end of the market but Kalpana is the early shortener into 8s , having been 12s with AKBets yesterday.
She is set to get even shorter by the looks of it.
Calandagan remains top-priced [7/4] with them.
Minnie Hauk is out to 11.0 on Betfair and 8s fixed-odds.
Like I said though, this is a Phoney Betting War at this time of day – but you have to show willing when writing these columns.
I hate Illinois Nazis (a line from one of the best films ever, not an informed personal preference, though I am sure they are undesirables…) and laziness.
Evening Blues each way at a generally available 14/1 in 2pm at York (get the best place terms your accounts allow)
GOING: Good to firm
Going Stick: Stands side: 8.5, Centre: 8.3, Farside: 8.2; Round: 6.6 (Saturday 8am)
Soil Moisture: 39%.
SATURDAY COURSE UPDATE: No rain recorded in July. A dry warm forecast through to the end of racing on Saturday. For access to our live weather station and for the latest Going info please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing
WATERING: Watered 4mm on Straight Course only after racing on Friday before racing on Saturday. Watered Straight 6mm on Thursday, 10mm on Wednesday, 10mm on Monday and 5mm overnight to Monday morning and also to Sunday morning. Watered Round Course 5mm each night to Thursday night.
Weather forecast: hot dry and sunny, 27-28 degrees
Readings in Home Straight: Far side – 6.1. Centre – 6.2. Stands Side – 6.1
Moisture Meter reading – 36%
Saturday Forecast wind speed and direction at 1.20pm Saturday – Westerly crosswind, 17mph, gusting to 37mph
SATURDAY EVENING COURSE UPDATE: Dry overnight and a dry, overcast Saturday early morning. Dry since the John Smith’s Cup Meeting, 10th & 11th July. Met Office forecast; mainly dry with sunny intervals and a fresh westerly wind, chance of a passing shower, 22 degrees. Live links to our weather station and the Met Office forecast can be found by clicking through on Going details on the Home Page of our website www.yorkracecourse.co.uk
WATERING: Irrigated with 2mms Friday overnight, 21mm applied in last 7 days.
Weather forecast: dry, sunny and 22-24 degrees
None (first time I have seen that on ITV races)
1.30pm York (normal run-styles may change with NH jockeys riding): Kodiac Thriller (prom – drawn 2), Lethal Nymph (6), Almaty Star (17), Emerald Harmony (4), Mon Na Slieve (1), Managing Director (7), Cameley Days (11), Bayraat (prom – 8)
1.45pm Ascot: Glorious Game (4), Magnesium (9), Moonrise (2), The Can Can Queen (11)
2pm York: Pocklington (2), Apollo One (10), We Never Stop (13), Eternal Sunshine, (3) Evening Blues (1)
2.20pm Ascot: No obvious pace, so initiative could be rewarded
2.35pm York: Item? (4 – again, this is a confused picture wth no guaranteed front-runner), Dancing Gemini (1)?
2.55pm Ascot ( I can’t see a confirmed front-runner – so an opportunity for someone): Stellar Sunrise (prom – 2), Arctic Dawn (prom – 7)
3.35pm Ascot: Lambourn (2), Action (8) – imagine AOB’s dream would be his horses to sit 1-2-3-4, French Derby-stylee
Good: James Fanshawe, John Butler, Andrew Balding, Karl Burke, Adrian Keatley, Ralph Beckett, Owen Burrows (small sample), Jamie Osborne (small sample), Harry Charlton, Eve Johnson Houghton , Daniel and Claire Kubler (very small sample), Ed Walker, F-H Graffard, John and Thady Gosden (excellent – 14 from 28 in July), Ruth Carr, Tristan Davidson (another 15-2 winner on Friday), Mark Walford, Paddy Twomey (fair/good), Michael Dods
Fair: Hamad Al Jehani (small sample, as usual), Richard Hannon (fair/good – good few winners of late), Donnacha O’Brien, Hugo Palmer, Jane Chapple-Hyam, Clive Cox, Kevin Phillipart De Foy, Richard Spencer, Charlie Johnston, Jack Channon, Brian Meehan, Willie McCreery, Richard and Peter Fahey, William Haggas (moderate for him – 4/1 winner on Friday), David O’Meara, Ian Williams (Friday winner), Stuart Williams, Roger Teal (fair/good – no winners), Tim Easterby, Paul Midgley, Sam England, Adrian Nicholls, James Horton (small sample)
Moderate: Jim Goldie, Aidan O’Brien (2-1 winner at Naas on Wednesday and 1-6 and 7-2 winners on Thursday but still poor for him), Kevin Ryan, Mick Appleby (very welcome 11-1 winner on Thursday though)
Don’t know: T Tezuka, H Miyamoto, Geoff Oldroyd, Clutterbuck and Chalarambous, Stephen Hanlon, Robert Cowell, Lawrence Mullaney, Tom Tate, Antony Brittain, Chris Dwyer
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