ITV Racing Tips - Wednesday 14th May 2025

14:10 – York 

William Haggas has won two of the recent renewals of this race and has the favourite here with The Reverend at 3/1. He makes his seasonal debut, but good ground would be a big concern for me considering he only ran on anything with ‘good’ in the description once in six runs as a 3yo. 

It is then obvious to see why Stressfree and Almosh’her are next in the market at 5s and 6s respectively. 

The one I think is interesting is the well handicapped MARHABA THE CHAMP who goes in first-time cheekpieces for Kevin Ryan. He is a dual course winner running off a mark of 86, just 2lb below a career low mark (that was his handicap debut off 84 in 2022).  

He was in poor form on the whole last season but may be the headgear and a return to York will spark some life into him. He has blown the cobwebs away at Pontefract and I am happy to side with him at 9/1 with four places widely available. 

MARHABA THE CHAMP 9/1 0.5PT EW 

14:42 – York 

I found this sprint very tricky to work out with nothing popping out to me as notably. Interesting. You can make cases for all of them if you try hard enough and I am happy to sit and watch this one. 

15:13 – York 

Unlike the previous sprint, I want to get involved here and the horse I am siding with is NIGHT RAIDER who is available at 4/1. Karl Burke’s horse was seen as a Guineas type last year but that never worked out and they have decided to drop him back in trip over the winter and that seemed to work a treat as he was an easy winner at Kempton and then an emphatic winner at Newcastle in a listed race – dominating from the front.  

The big question is whether he can convert this form to turf – if he can, he is very dangerous – there is nothing that I can see as to why he shouldn’t be able to. 

This is obviously deeper than what he has been competing in too and obviously both Inisherin and Elite Status are more proven, but I am happy to side with the potential fly in the ointment and hope Night Raider can become a bit of a star of this open division. 

I am also happy to take a chance for Royal Ascot too where if he wins today, he could well be favourite for the big sprint there.  

NIGHT RAIDER 4/1 1PT WIN 

ANTE POST  - ROYAL ASCOT - QEII JUBILEE STAKES 

NIGHT RAIDER 16/1 1PT WIN 

15:45 – York 

This looks a wide open Musidora and the form horse here is Miss Tonnerre on what she did at 2, but that bar is not unreasonable to get to. 

Aidan O’Brien has dominated Trials this season and he runs Whirl but her comeback run was hardly a positive one, but she will probably improve for the step up in trip.

John Gosden has done well in this race recently and he has Go Go Boots who is a likely improver too and the other runners from Beckett and Balding stable are pretty unknown quantities too.

All in all, a bit of guesswork required here, and I will pass on this race. 

16:18 – York 

GALLANT was a big eye-catcher over 6f at Newmarket last time and he looks certain to improve for a step up to 7f so I’m sure Andrew Balding was very happy to see the handicapper drop him 1lb to a mark of 84 for that effort. He must be well treated off that mark when you look at his Kempton form where he beat West Acre who has gone off winning group races in Dubai over the winter. 

He is no bargain at 3/1 but that seems fair enough to me and could see him shortening further.  

GALLANT 3/1 1PT WIN