ITV Racing Tips on May 22nd - Best bets at York and the Curragh

Here are our best betting tips for Sunday's ITV races at York and the Curragh, plus a bonus tip for the historic Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Read our full guide to the 2022 Irish 1000 Guineas to find out who we've backed in Sunday's main event.

If you plan on watching any of Sunday's races via a mobile or tablet, then take a look at our Irish 1000 Guineas Live Stream page.

Before we get into the ITV action, we've got a cracking renewal of this Group One to take in at the Curragh. I fancy the top two in the market will fight out the finish, and I'd have to give a slight edge to LORD NORTH over Joseph O'Brien's State Of Rest.

After missing the majority of last season through injury, John Gosden's six-year-old returned to action with a decent second behind Alenquer in the Winter Derby. Lord North then returned to Meydan to try and defend his Dubai Turf crown. Turning for home, Frankie Dettori's mount still had plenty of work to do, but Lord North found an extra gear in the closing stages to force a dead-heat with Japanese raider, Panthalassa.

John Gosden - who's stable are in excellent form - will have kept Lord North on the go since then, with a tilt at this Group One in mind. State Of Rest had a hard race when winning the Prix Ganay three weeks ago, and he may struggle to match Lord North's electric turn-of-foot in the closing stages.

Having impressed in a couple of losing efforts as a juvenile last season, ESPRESOO bolted up on her reappearance at Ayr, making all the running before stretching six lengths clear in the closing stages.

Joe Fanning's mount then won cosily under a penalty at Chelmsford, overcoming a troubled start, which forced the favourite wide for much of the contest. Espressoo has the profile of a typical Mark Johnston improver, and I don't fancy siding against her on Sunday.

One of the least exposed runners in this handicap is PARAMARIBO, who placed once in three starts in maidens last season. Iain Jardine's gelding was slowly away on his reappearance at Musselburgh, but picked up gamely from the rear to eventually finish a close third.

The form of that race has worked out well, with El Picador and Colinton running well since. Paramaribo runs off the same mark again today and promising apprentice, Kieran Schofield takes an extra three pounds off his back.

I don't like backing hold up horses in sprint handicaps at York. It often pays to be up with the early pace, or positioned just off it. A handful of possible front-runners have been drawn in single-figure stalls here, with very little early pace likely to come from the high stalls, so being drawn low could certainly be an advantage here.

Drawn nicely to latch onto the leaders from stall eleven is the returning AZURE BLUE, who progressed nicely during his juvenile campaign. Michael Dods' filly finished a close second to the classy Perfect News over this trip at Carlisle, before rounding off his season with an easy maiden victory up at Newmarket. Azure Blue now makes her handicap debut running off a workable mark of 78 and could be open to plenty of improvement.

Unlike the six-furlong Dash earlier on the card, we do have some likely pacesetters drawn high here, with Dakota Gold and Aberame Gold likely to go forward straight away from stalls 14 and 19. We've got a few front runners drawn low too, and with a clear lack of early pace in the central stalls, we could see this field split into to separate groups.

Considering he was drawn terribly up in stall one and hampered leaving the gates, MISTER BLUEBIRD did brilliantly to land a hugely competitive handicap at Ascot last time out. Heather Main's stable are in solid form and Laura Pearson's claimer means Mister Bluebird is only running off a two-pound higher mark. I wouldn't be surprised to see him run another competitive race.