Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Possibly I am guilty of throwing good money after bad but I shall be following Candy Hill (1.55) in Ayr’s opener, having been a bit annoyed by her narrow defeat at Hamilton last time. Keith Dalgleish’s filly took a big step forward on her debut effort to be beaten just a neck, with her jockey putting up 1lb overweight and the bit having slipped through her mouth.
In the hoped-for absence of any such mishaps today, she appeals to me at 4-1, with the benefit of an in-form rider. She has the ground to suit and this return to six furlongs ought to help.
In a triumph of planning to make us all proud, the afternoon’s other card is at Cartmel, meaning no available racing for anyone who is not somewhere in the north-west area of this isle. Still, Cartmel is reliably entertaining, even on the box, and I have half a fancy for Johnny Go (3.20) in the staying handicap hurdle, which will probably require five or six laps.
From the in-form Lisa Harrison yard, he showed his best form to date when second on his handicap debut at Perth last time. An extra mile is a bit of a shot in the dark for such an inexperienced type but his pedigree suggests it will suit and it wouldn’t have to make much of a difference for him to be overpriced at 13-2.
David O’Meara could score at Beverley tonight with Signorina Roseina (7.10) at 5-1. The step up to this sort of trip helped her at Catterick last time and David Nolan (18% for the trainer this year) rides for the first time.
Tipping competition - a new week
Congratulations to chris1623, who won last week’s competition on a final score of +9.98 after picking every winner on Wednesday. Apologies for the fact that we missed that impressive achievement at the time. William36 finished second on +6.73 after a winnerless end to the week.
This week’s prize is a pair of Premier enclosure tickets to Sandown for Thursday 6 August, when an evening of racing will be followed by live music from top indie rockers (it says here) Kaiser Chiefs! More details are here for anyone who wants to buy tickets, having not won this week. Good luck!
To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 4.40 Ayr, 4.55 Cartmel, 7.50 Windsor.
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.
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.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
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And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
