Kevin O’Malley’s ITV Racing Tips on Day 2 of the St Leger Festival

We’re building toward a big Saturday of racing at Doncaster as the St Leger Festival rolls on. On Thursday, ITV Racing cameras are once again capturing the feature action on the Town Moor and expert tipster Kevin O’Malley reveals his fancies for Day 2.

Sky Angel going the right way for Appleby

Sky Angel (1:40 Doncaster) has gone off favourite on two of her three starts and was well-supported at Newmarket last time too. For those following her to date, she’s becoming an expensive horse to follow, but the Dark Angel filly is going the right way and has found a nice opening in this 7f nursery. Her second at Newmarket last time out produced a good time in defeat and up 3lb, she looks poised to pounce under William Buick. The trip is fine, while the drying ground will help her cause.

Take a chance on Vibes in May Hill

Zabeel Queen looked good on debut and if she improves notably from that win, Roger Varian’s filly will be tough to beat in this Group 2 over a mile. On paper though, the performance of Great Vibes (2:10 Doncaster) when beating Sky Angel at Newmarket is only a pound or two off what the likely favourite achieved on her debut. George Scott’s filly is progressing well, has acquired some useful experience to date and could turn out to be a decent value each-way play in the race.

Hot Varian to strike with Line Of Departure

The Weatherbys Racing Bank 2yo Stakes at 2:40pm is a highly competitive test of juvenile speed over 6f and on official ratings, Yazaman and Imperial Force have the class edge. On speed figures and at these weights though, several others come strongly into the picture. Line Of Departure represents a Roger Varian stable that can do very little wrong at present and this improving horse comes here on a hat-trick. He’s got good form, knows how to win and is nicely weighted to make his presence firmly felt today. 

Monica Sheriff to fend off her younger rivals in Park Hill cracker

4yo fillies have won the last four renewals of the Group 2 Park Hill Fillies’ Stakes and indeed have won 8 of the last 10 renewals. With that in mind, the William Haggas trained Monica Sheriff is a stern vote in the 3:15pm feature on Thursday. She won five races on the bounce in 2019, before returning to run a brilliant race in fourth in the Ebor Handicap. That was some effort after a long absence and she is a really interesting project over marathon trips. Tom Marquand takes over from Daniel Tudhope, which is a positive as he knows the daughter of Lawman very well. She needs to keep improving, but clearly has a lot going for her.