ITV Racing Tips: Two Best Bets For Day 1 Of Ebor Meeting

One of the best weeks of the year for fans of flat racing takes place starting on Wednesday, York's Ebor Festival. We kick things off with a bang with the Juddmonte International the highlight of a stacked Wednesday card and as well as a full preview of the feature race, embedded on this page, Billy Grimshaw has two additional bets to hopefully kick the week off in perfect fashion.

13:50 York - Heritage Handicap

A blink and you'll miss it handicap over five kicks things off for another year's Ebor festival, and as always the best bit of advice when punting in these races is to tread lightly. Th draw is always a huge factor and as this is race 1, we are guessing a touch as to where it will be optimal to be drawn, but I am going to judge this race on the basis the lower drawn horses will have a slight advantage. One thing I definitely want here over this course and distance is a prominent racer, and while he may not be a bona fide frontrunner like Dark Thirty, who I imagine will lead his group from stall 13, I like TOCA MADERA to get a deserved slice of revenge for his hopelessly luckless run in the Steward's Cup last time out.

To say he met traffic at Goodwood would be one of the understatements of the year, but once Saffie Osborne did finally get a gap his progress was eye-catching and one suspects if he'd have been a bit more prominent, as he usually is, he'd have got even closer than fifth. Danny Tudhope takes over in the saddle and I would be amazed if he is not quick from the stalls to try and get a leading position in the low drawn crew of horses. Should he get a nice position I have no worries over his stamina on this ground and over this trip, and with the finishing kick he showed at Goodwood he can show the field a clean pair of heels.

We of course could see him win his group and finish out of the money, but hopefully that doesn't happen and we at least scoop some each-way returns. Favourite The Man scares me the most - unsurprisingly as he is the only horse shorter than our lad - given he was second in the race last season and looks in better nick this time around, but I do believe Toca Madera is the most talented in here and if he doesn't hit traffic as he did at Goodwood, he can come home in front.

15:00 York - Great Voltigeur Stakes

I cannot wait to see the three way clash between Christmas Day, Pierre Bonaud and Maltese Cross here. I was struggling to split all three, but 11/4 on the Derby winner and 3/1 on the "second string" for O'Brien versus 2/1 for the Derby second makes it an easier choice than I'd anticipated. Over perhaps the past five seasons there has been a cliche which has almost eaten itself;  William Haggas likes winners at York. It is true, of course, and he does have a fine record here, but you could bring any trainer form stat you like to any course of your choosing and if you're using it as a reason to back against an Aidan O'Brien, I'll take you on. I feel the odds compilers have fallen into the Haggas York trap too deep here, and will gladly be on the other side of that argument.

Christmas Day's win at Epsom has had stones thrown at it for being on soft ground, but he did very little wrong in the Irish Derby when a few lengths off the ultra impressive winner - who'd be odds-on in here. He finished up an always closing half length ahead of Pierre Bonaud off levels that day, but now has to give away five pounds. Ryan Moore is on Christmas Day, however I wonder how much of that has been dictated to him by the powers that be. It is hard to watch the Curragh Classic and think Pierre Bonaud would not have finished ahead if given 5lbs, and with Wayne Lordan's mount potentially being better suited by the going here he is the one to be with.

PIERRE BONAUD did have a slightly easier task at the Curragh in that he had cover while Christmas Day was left out as a sitting duck for Benvenuto Cellini to reel in, however the duo looked to be really battling in the final furlong and it was Bonaud who was gaining with every stride. There is a fag paper between them, I suspect, and so with the weight swing I'll back Lordan to again come out on top this season in his battles with Moore.