Dave Nevison's Saturday tips: four best bets at York

Adrian Keatley clearly targets this race every year. He won it in 2023, had the favourite again last year, and looks like he has a runner with a strong chance again this time around.

Secret Force did well over jumps last winter for Gavin Cromwell and looks to have potential upside on the Flat judged by his recent promising first run for this yard.

He was out the back at Hamilton and never challenged, but was staying on noticeably at the death and definitely looked capable of better.

Georgie Benson is a well established Irish amateur who rides for many top yards and Secret Force will lack nothing in the saddle. 

Bobby Bennu is not always the most consistent performer, but does tend to hold his form for a couple of runs and he could build on what was a decent effort last time out here.

Roger Varian’s four-year-old couldn’t have done much better than he did from a wide draw at Chester last time out and he was noted making late headway after being dropped out from his wide berth, ending up getting beat less than a couple of lengths.

He is 2lb below his latest winning mark here and will be suited by the fast pace of a big field York handicap.

The presence of an unbeaten Haggas runner with a Group One entry means this is very much an each-way play for me with extra places on offer. 

William Haggas is unrelenting in the number of favourites he has in these big field York handicaps. While unlike the one in the earlier race, Thunder Call doesn’t currently have Group entries, though it might not be that much longer before he does have judged by his impressive six-length maiden win.

That Kempton race may not have been much, but the well beaten third came out and won next time and the fourth-placed horse finished a good second in a similar event, so it definitely wasn’t a worthless piece of form and the handicapper looks to have been very lenient giving Thunder Call an opening mark of 85.

Rising star Australian jockey Zac Lloyd is on a working holiday incorporating Royal Ascot and rode a double at Doncaster last weekend.

I don’t usually bet in three-year-old only handicaps until the Royal meeting, but I am happy to get involved a couple of days early with this one.

Pearl Eye did me a big favour when winning last week and looks to have a good chance of following up here, albeit in a much more competitive race. A prolific winner in his younger days, Jim Goldie’s gelding has found it tougher to win off marks in the mid 80s for the last two seasons, however he did win off a mark of 84 last season.

Even though he is 2lb higher than last week’s win, he is still racing off just 74 here.

He had Paul Mulrennan on board last week, but he had signalled his return to form under Lauren Young on his previous two runs and it is certainly no secret how highly I regard the Goldie apprentice, and her 5lb is a strong claim.