Today’s best bets
Here’s an interesting piece by m’colleague Sean Ingle on the question of viewing figures for the Ashes, which turn out to be surprisingly low. There’s a suggestion that the sport of cricket is losing relevance and status because its best games are not free for anyone to watch.
It’s food for thought for racing folk, with another round of rights negotiations on the horizon. Viewing figures since Channel 4 got exclusive rights have fallen short of what was hoped for but nearly all other sports would be delighted to have 90 days every year on one of the main four channels.
Saeed bin Suroor has his string in good order just now and I don’t object to 15-8 about his Keep In Line (8.30) at Windsor tonight. This is a full brother to Kassiano, who represented the trainer in a Dubai World Cup a couple of years ago, having won a Meydan handicap off 106 at the age of four.
Keep In Line is still only a lightly raced three-year-old but I don’t see him scaling those heights. Even so, he has a fair bit of room to be better than his current mark, awarded after he won a nine-furlong maiden at Ripon by a neck (with the third horse out of sight).
His handicap debut was in the rather challenging King George V at Royal Ascot and he could never get competitive but this is much more straightforward and he should have plenty more to offer at this sort of distance. His main market rival finished distressed when last seen in May.
In an earlier maiden, the same price is fine about Noble Peace (7.30), beaten just a short-head on his debut at Goodwood in May, when slowly away and bested only by a rival having his third start. The third won next time.
Tipping competition – a new week
Congratulations to William36, who hung on to win last week’s competition on a final score of +16.50 despite a winnerless Friday.
This week’s prize, very generously offered by Salisbury racecourse, is a pair of top-enclosure tickets to their two-day Splendour meeting in mid-August, Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th. The Thursday features Salisbury’s best race of the year, the Group Three Sovereign Stakes, won last year by Captain Cat. It’s two excellent days’ racing in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, with free childrens’ entertainment laid on for those of you needing to keep little ones occupied. If you don’t win, you can buy tickets here.
To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 3.15 Wetherby, 4.35 Ayr, 8.00 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.
