Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
News comes this morning that all of Britain’s Flat racecourses are to be remeasured to ensure that race distances are entirely accurate, following a similar exercise involving jumps tracks last year. Given concerns raised by experts including Timeform and the Horserace Bettors Forum, this is clearly necessary.
But having accurate race distances will only partly resolve the problems facing those of us who would prefer not to be basing our analysis on misleading information. Rail movements can make significant changes to distances and even to the way that races are run and that information really ought to be available by, at the latest, 9am on the day before racing.
Some clerks of the course are excellent at that kind of thing but others don’t seem to accept it as part of their job and also routinely fail to update GoingStick readings in the days before racing. What is needed is an acceptance across the whole sport, and especially from racecourses, that provision of accurate, timely pre-race information is vital to racing’s future popularity.
I’m afraid we still need a culture change to get to that point. Bits of news like this remeasuring exercise, while most welcome, amount to patching up part of a blanket that is threadbare elsewhere.
I was planning on tipping Artful Mind in this space for the penultimate race at Beverley today, he having shown promise on his first start for Charlie Fellowes, when well backed. But, having opened at 5-1, the wretched beast is down to 11-4 and that just can’t be value in a 16-runner field with all the potential for traffic problems that a mile around Beverley presents. I mean, I know we all want to back a winner, but come on, guys, show some restraint.
Almost the same odds (i.e. 5-2) are available about Highbury High (2.50) in a weak-looking handicap chase at Warwick. Of course, it will have to be weak for this grey to win it but he has been steadily progressive during his year with Neil Mulholland and looked the likely winner for a long way when a close second last time. This could finally be his day.
Fergal O’Brien could get a double in the last two races on that card. He has made good progress with Master Dee (4.30), a Rooney-owned horse formerly with Donald McCain, and the seven-year-old is only up a couple of pounds for his Newton Abbot win last month.
He’s 4-1, while 5-1 is available about Troubled Soul (5.00) in the mares handicap hurdle. This seven-year-old showed bits of form that would be good enough here when trained in Ireland and it’s interesting to see her fitted with a hood on her first outing for O’Brien.
Jim Crowley’s lead in the Flat jockeys’ title race has been reduced once more to a single winner but he has a good-looking book of rides today, including Pike Corner Cross (3.00) at the dreaded Lingfield. This one has a progressive record on Polytrack and, while his wins have come the other way round at Kempton, I think he can prove as effective turning left.
He certainly looks fairly treated on a 5lb higher mark for his latest win last month and appeals to me at 4-1.
We are no longer able to continue with competitions every week, but they will still run in the biggest weeks (Cheltenham, Aintree, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and maybe one or two others, as well as the Christmas quiz).
We’ll still have a Talking Horses each day for tips, analysis and news, so we very much hope you’ll join us to chew over whatever racing happens to be going on and post your tips or racing-related comments below.
