Horse racing tips: Dave Nevison's Thursday fancies

The racing takes a serious step up in grade for Newmarket’s July Meeting, which has several interesting races despite smallish fields. Hopefully the sun decides to come out for this meeting, even if it certainly looks like the first day will be the best on that front. If these three come in it will not matter too much whether rain or shine, so here’s hoping. 

William Haggas having a favourite in a big three-year-old handicap is hardly a surprise, but Elmonjed seems to tick every box for me and has to be the selection here. 

A lightly-raced type who was unbeaten in two modest races last season, Elmonjed has improved in handicap company this spring. He ran creditably over seven furlongs at the Dante meeting on his reappearance and then stepped up markedly when dropped back in trip last time, also at . He finished third to after possibly doing too much early and I think can progress again here. 

He has landed a good draw near to who will almost certainly lead in this and that should enable Elmonjed to settle better. He is proven on the prevailing soft ground and looks just the type for this. 

A maiden handicap spotted by a wealth management firm looks like a punting oxymoron, but I am very hopeful that backing Beechwood Star might well be a positive financial decision. 

Richard Fahey’s gelding looks to have had plenty of goes already and it is easy to think he is exposed, but I feel it is easy to put a line through at least four of his runs. On three of his last five starts he has been drawn widest of all which has kept him out of things, and previous to that he was about to run a very good race in a big sales race at yet was hampered on two occasions. 

Perhaps significantly he was backed into favouritism on his latest run against older horses at Thirsk, so he is clearly felt to be in decent order and this race represents a real chance to break his duck. 

He is 17lb lower than when he first started in handicaps and has not done badly with the draw. He has not deserved that much of a drop in the weights and Beechwood Star will pretty soon show himself well handicapped. 

Al Ameen is starting to look like a well-handicapped horse and he is hitting form in line with the James Fanshawe team going strongly currently. 

He is now back to a mark lower than he won off last season (on the all-weather at Kempton Park) and he ran his best race of the season last time out. That came over six furlongs, but he has proved himself over this trip previously and I have no concerns over the distance. 

I would be more concerned if there was much more rain in the Epsom area and the ground turned heavy, but off this mark - and in what looks a weak handicap - Al Ameen looks the form pick.