One of the top races to take place at York over the coming weekend at the four-day festival is the Sky Bet Melrose Heritage Handicap. (Photo credit York Racecourse).
One of the top races to take place at York over the coming weekend at the four-day festival is the Sky Bet Melrose (Heritage Handicap) race, with a number of riders all aiming to take home the top prize once all is said and done.
The York Festival is one of the biggest festivals to be on the horse racing calendar each year, with it being one of the highlights on the flat circuit and perhaps the biggest that the north of the country has to offer.
The main event is the Sky Bet Melrose (Heritage Handicap), which is taking place this Saturday at 14:25 and it is a Class 2 event that will see up to 30 riders and horses all compete for the top cash prize of £64,425. This handicap event is open to horses that are 3 years old, and it is raced over a length of 1 mile, 5 furlongs and 188 yards.
Naturally, there are a number of different horses that will instantly be favored as potential betting favorites, with some standing out more than others in the predictions due to their form and their previous history in the race.
In this Sky Bet Melrose (Heritage Handicap) preview, we take a look at who the favorites are and why they are considered to be amongst the top picks to be inside the winner’s enclosure once the race is over.
Dhushan
Trained by William Haggas and owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, Dhushan is considered the favorite to win the Handicap race and there is strong evidence to suggest that he could be the horse to be appearing in the winner’s enclosure after the completion of the event.
The Irish horse is still relatively new to racing as he has only competed in a total of five races; however, he is yet to finish any lower than second place in each of his outings so far. Dhushan has managed to pick up two wins and finish 2nd on three occasions, with each race being over a similar distance to the Handicap event that takes place on Saturday.
Having last competed at Ascot last month, where he finished 2nd after winning the two previous races he ran in, many will be expecting jockey Tom Marquand to lead him to glory after having a huge amount of success in the past couple of weeks.
Wink Of An Eye
Whilst a jockey is yet to be confirmed to ride Wink of An Eye, the horse is incredibly talented and one that has been in great form heading into the York Festival this weekend.
Owned by HRH The Queen and trained by Haggas, the horse has been able to blow away the competition when competing in races this summer over the flats. Each of his four last races has all ended in victory, whilst the other two events finished with a second and a third place.
As long as the ground is ‘Good’ or has an element of ‘Good’ to it, then Wink of An Eye could be a huge threat to Dhushan and one that can end up with the spoils on Saturday afternoon!
