I love York - and here's why punters should be more track specific

There are loads of different methods racing folk use to find a winner, but perhaps the most popular one is course form. Horses who have run to a certain level at a particular track often come back and do the same the next time.

We often talk about jockeys at certain tracks too. Ryan Moore and Franny Norton are particularly proficient at Chester, while Oisin Murphy had gone over 50 rides without riding a winner there until last week. Not even Franny's wife would suggest he was as good a jockey as Oisin, but I would argue until I'm blue in the face that he is better at Chester.

One thing punters never talk about, though, is their suitability for a particular track. Every year I think I can crack Chester because so many racing fans I know love the place and say finding winners there is dead straightforward, but if truth be told I find Chester and Goodwood the most frustrating tracks in Britain. They simply don't suit my particular temperament, which is all about trying to find the fastest horses, rather than trying to trick one in due to draw or pace biases.

The reason why I struggle is that I always believe that Chester and Goodwood are what I like to call on a pace knife edge. For example, in last week's Chester Cup Metier was clearly the best horse in the race and was the only one drawn higher than seven to finish in the first seven, but there is no way he would have won if Harrison Shaw had waited an extra half-furlong before kicking on on Emiyn.

Sure, Shaw was trying to win the race and Emiyn wouldn't have won however he was ridden, but his decision to kick on three furlongs out rather than waiting five seconds was why Metier won rather than being an unlucky loser.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that at both Chester and Goodwood, if you go for home three seconds too soon the hold-up horses will swamp you on the run to the line, but if you can wait that bit longer it's really hard to peg back the front-runners. Of course, if you go for home too soon at any track it will compromise your chances of winning, but for me the window is much smaller at Chester and Goodwood, and that brings luck so much more into the equation.

In total contrast I've always felt that those tracks with long straights like Ascot, Newbury, York or Epsom are much easier to read and suit my temperament that much more. Of course, there are horses who don't enjoy the ups and downs of Epsom, but with the odd exception the best horses tend to win the big races there and while the draw can play havoc at Ascot, that is bound to happen on a big wide-open track.

York has its detractors on occasions, but there is no doubt it's a fair Flat track, which is why I always really look forward to its return every year. The meeting is named after the Dante and while Arrest and Military Order suggested they were potential Derby winners last week, I'm far from convinced the bar is that high and if Canberra Legend, Passenger or The Foxes won with authority on Thursday, they might actually have the best form going into Epsom next month.

No concerns about quick ground

One thing I keep hearing in the run-up to the Epsom Classics is whether a horse will be able to handle fast ground because most of the trials have been run in the mud or on the all-weather.

That is, of course, a pertinent question if the ground was going to be fast, but in this day and age I doubt very much if we will ever see a properly fast-ground Derby ever again. If I was an Arrest or a Sprewell fan, the last thing I would be worried about was the prospect of very quick ground.

Quite simply there is no way Andrew Cooper is going to risk the ground being very fast coming down Tattenham Hill on such a high profile day and the ground at Epsom and Sandown is seldom fast these days.

I reckon he will be aiming for good ground for the Derby and Oaks, and I reckon that is the right approach as well. Yes, the fast-ground horses may never get their ideal conditions, but if top-class racehorses can't handle that then you can drop the top and class, they are just horses.

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