Friday’s best bets, by Greg Wood
Huntingdon offers the only jumping action this afternoon after the demise of the scheduled card at Sedgefield on Thursday and the card is suitably competitive overall, though the presence of Sceau Royal (2.50) in the feature event, the Chatteris Fen Hurdle, has smothered it as a betting event.
Alan King’s runner is already among the favourites for the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and while Perceus, who was rated 86 on the Flat, remains unexposed over hurdle, it will be a real surprise if Sceau Royal does not follow up his victory in a stronger race at Cheltenham in December.
Ubak (3.20) offers rather more juice from a punter’s point of view in the novice handicap chase. Gary Moore’s eight-year-old was a Grade Two winner over hurdles at Aintree in April 2013 in but then spent nearly three years on the sidelines before his return over fences, also at Grade Two level, at Newbury’s Hennessy meeting. Understandably, he tired from the top of the straight, but should be fitter now and is a potential blot on his handicap debut off a mark of 140.
On the same card, Tippmanboy (1.50) should finally get his head in front after a series of second-place finishes, while at Lingfield, Diletta Tommasa (1.30) is the sort who will win a race when things fall right and is a fair price at around 6-1. Super Kid (3.00) is favoured by the weights in the feature event, while at Wolverhampton, Guishan (4.45) catches the eye at 14-1 in the most competitive race on the card. Alistair Rawlinson is back in the saddle and a repeat of her performance at Chelmsford in November would give Mick Appleby’s mare a better chance than the betting might suggest.
Tipping competition, day five
Our winners so far:
Monday
Little Stampy 2-1
Searchlight 10-1
Invectus Hero 100-30
Tuesday
Clock On Tom 6-1
Fishing Bridge 5-1
Percella 3-1
Wednesday
Wychwoods Brook 11-2
Winning Spark 9-2
Olympian Boy 16-1
Thursday
Lackamon 12-1
Tanarpino 9-1
Secret Insider 9-1
And our leader is …
Bonzodrongo +21.50
… who has had Olympian Boy, Secret Insider and Wychwoods Brook. Other good scores: Beverley1976 +12, Crasivo +12, garynic +11.50, chris1623 +10.50, PHILYERBOOTS +10.50, factormax +9, wiggy12 +8.50, Onion_Terror +8.33, Ellandback +8, GForce1 +8, BennyAndTheJets +8.
For today’s thrilling climax, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 3.20 Huntingdon, 4.45 Wolverhampton, 5.45 Wolverhampton.
This week’s prize is three pairs of premier enclosure tickets to Ascot a week on Saturday (23 Jan) for Clarence House Chase day, which may feature a clash between Un De Sceaux and Sire De Grugy if we all keep our fingers crossed. Two pairs of tickets for this week’s prize have come from web sports betting community OLBG (here’s a link to their website) and one pair from Ascot themselves. “With a prize fund of £125,000 the race is a vital stepping-stone to the Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival,” Ascot’s website explains. You can read more and buy tickets 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 -12.
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 (TODAY).
Good luck!
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