Today’s best bets, by Greg Wood
The winter campaign on the all-weather tracks effectively begins today when the 2015-16 All-Weather Championships are officially launched at Lingfield and there are several very decent races on the card to back up the PR push. California (2.20) is 4-1 for the Listed River Eden Fillies’ Stakes and that looks very fair. John Gosden’s filly was beaten in a Listed event at Chantilly last time out, following an impressive success in a handicap at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, but she did not have much luck in running and ran on strongly in the closing stages. The step up to 15 furlongs should be in her favour and she has more scope for improvement than Desert Snow, her main rival in the market, who has 11 races behind her already.
Saeed bin Suroor, the trainer of Desert Snow, saddles the warm favourite, Hold Tight, in the subsequent handicap, a Class 2 event over seven furlongs. Hold Tight was an easy maiden winner on soft ground at Leicester earlier this month but steps up to handicap company in a very strong race off a mark of 86 and is a cramped price to maintain his unbeaten record.
He clearly has plenty of room to progress, but Crazy Chic (2.50) could offer more value. Marco Botti’s gelding won in a good time on the Polytrack at Kempton last time out and a 5lb rise in the weights may not be enough to stop him following up.
Rekdhat (3.20) has failed to record a win in four starts this season but has been running well in better fields than she faces today, including when second in a valuable race in Turkey last month.
Mossgo (6.40) has a solid chance on the card at Chelmsford City later on, while Snapping Turtle (2.30) and What A Good Night (1.40) are the pick of the jumping cards at Sedgefield and Stratford respectively.
Tipping competition, day four
Our winners so far:
Monday
Noble Gift 14-1
Azamesse 5-2
Monbeg River 13-8
Tuesday
Arnold Lane 14-1
Ashdown Lass 12-1
Georgie Lad 7-2
Wednesday
Bancnuanaheireann 14/1
Milgen Bay 7-1
Revision 7-1
And our leader is. . .
AshleyBrook +29
... who had Bancnuanaheireann AND Milgen Bay. It was an impressive day for scoring, as can be seen from these other top scores: BearRides +27, Knottlamag +23.50, Sportingbest +22.63, GForce1 +16.63, waltersobchak +14, donlewis +14.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 2.20 Lingfield, 3.20 Lingfield, 3.40 Stratford.
This week’s prize is a copy of Mark Howard’s One Jump Ahead for the coming winter, a 188-page guide to the new season, packed with insights and horses to follow, both in England and Ireland. If you don’t win, you can buy a copy here.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -9.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
Good luck!
For terms and conditions click here.
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
