York Races Betting Tips for Thursday 18th May 2023 – Day 2 of the Dante Festival

Get our day 2 betting tips of the 2023 York Dante Festival with the races featured being shown live on ITV Racing. Things get underway at 1.50pm and we have got betting tips for five of the races. 

Open a new Ladbrokes account to get an instant £20 in free bets added to your account when you bet £5 on a York bet this week.

 

Get £20 in free bets when you join Ladbrokes and bet £5

1. Open a Ladbrokes account via this link
2. Bet £5 or more on the 1.50pm
3. You will get:

• £5 free bet for the 2.25
• £5 free bet for the 3.00
• £5 free bet for the 3.35
• £5 free bet for the 4.10

 

1:50 York

The opener on Day 2 of the Dante Meeting is another wide-open handicap for punters to try and solve. This one is over the minimum 5f trip.

I like ILLUSIONIST (9/1) EW here for the shrewd Grant Tuer stable. He made his seasonal reappearance at Ripon last month finishing a good third not beaten far. He was arguably a little unlucky there and with it being his first run for a while, he’s entitled to improve for that. He won here at this meeting last year over 5f so he obviously enjoys this challenge. The ground will hold no fears either.

 

2:25 York

Next up at 2:25 is the Group 2 Middleton Fillies Stakes over 1m2f.

It’s hard to get away from FREE WIND (5/4) NAP in this. She looked a real star when landing the Lancashire Oaks despite suffering interference at a crucial stage on severa occasions. She could well be a Group 1 filly and if she returns in anywhere near that form here, she’ll win.

 

3:00 York

We have another trappy handicap at 3:00, this time over the 7f distance.

The one for me here is NORTHERN EXPRESS (8/1). Michael Dods remains in strong form having landed the feature on Day 1 and Northern Express has already been in the winners circle this season. He landed the competitive Thirsk Hunt Cup at the start of the month staying on strongly and always doing enough. The form has been boosted since with the second winning well on Sunday. He has a nice draw in stall 5 and can go well again.

 

3:35 York

The feature of the week comes up at 3:35 and it’s a fascinating renewal of the Dante Stakes, a Group 2 over 1m2f which was won by the Derby winner Desert Crown prior to landing the classic.

I’d chance PASSENGER (5/1) NB here for last years’ winning trainer Sir Michael Stoute. He looked really promising when making a winning debut at Newmarket over the mile last month winning by 3 lengths. Stoute’s always improve for their first outing which makes that effort even more encouraging. Connections obviously know what it takes and the fact he’s coming here suggest they think they have another real good one. He’s bred to be suited by this step up in trip and he’s open to any amount of improvement.

 

4:10 York

The final race on ITV is the 4:10 and it is the listed class Weston Stakes over the 5f dash.

It’s ROCKET RODNEY (5/1) for me here. He was a quality 2 year-old that was one of the quickest around. He was a fine second behind Little Big Bear at Royal Ascot before winning a listed contest easily at Sandown next time out. He was unlucky to finish second than at both York and Goodwood before finishing 7th over at Chantilly. That was at the end of a long season and I think he will resume improvement now he’s been freshened up ahead of his 3 year-old campaign. I’d expect a bold bid in this.

 

£15 Horse Racing Free Bet Offer

E.g. open an account with this offer > bet £15 on the 1.50pm race > you get a £15 free bet for your next York bet.

Relevant news