Friday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Did you happen to see the staying handicap chase at Towcester yesterday? It was a candidate for Race Of The Season if, like me, you enjoy a bit of plodding. Timeform have called attention to it through their Twitter account just now, pointing out that seven of the nine runners had already earned the dreaded Timeform squiggle, denoting a horse who is “unreliable for temperamental or other reasons”.
See what our reporter made of the squiggle-filled 2:10 at Towcester pic.twitter.com/tidAmpAn5R
— Timeform (@Timeform) February 5, 2016
Five of the squigglees were the only ones to complete the course, though it would be going too far to say they fought out the finish. Their in-running comments in today’s Racing Post include phrases like “looking lazy”, “plodded clear”, “plodded on”, “reluctant early”, “soon found little”, “ran in snatches” and “stopped very quickly”.
I dare say ardent fans of the Commonwealth Cup will have turned away in disgust but that, for my money, was a race to treasure.
That being said, I’d like to see rather more action from Runswick Relax (2.25) at Catterick today. The 10-year-old has responded well to the tongue tie this season, winning here over Christmas from Rosquero, who was a shock winner the other day. He ran as well to be second at Musselburgh a fortnight ago, even if he was bested by a 14-year-old. I prefer him to Auldthunder, penalised for winning a weak event last week.
A step up in trip looks the right move for Sue Smith’s Hainan (2.55) at 7-2 in the following handicap hurdle, while the tough Cloudy Joker (4.00) is once more a backable price at 9-2 as he seeks his third course win on the spin.
Tipping competition, day five
Our winners so far:
Monday
Loves Destination 2-1
Bebinn 2-1
Abbey Angel 9-4
Tuesday
Sea Wall 8-1
Trust Me Boy 8-1
Join The Navy 6-1
Wednesday
The Artful Cobbler 8-1
Grimley Girl 6-1
Rosquero 20-1
Thursday
Baoulet Delaroque 13-8
As De Fer 9-4
High Aspirations 100-30
And our leader is …
yasmin11 +15.96
… who already had a share of the lead before picking Baoulet Delaroque AND High Aspirations. Bocuma_TJ (+11.96) had the same double. Other good scores: millreef +9, Lindsey6677 +6.88, melonk +5, LexLondon +4.
For today’s thrilling climax, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 2.25 Catterick, 4.00 Catterick, 4.20 Chepstow.
This week, we’re offering a second chance to win a copy Birdie: The Best Of Darren Bird, a collection of the finest and funniest horse racing sketches by Darren Bird, who has established himself as the sport’s very own cartoonist. You can watch him in action here. If you don’t win, you can buy a copy of the book 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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And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
