Wednesday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
In case you missed it, Charles Byrnes made no bones about landing a significant gamble at Roscommon last night, winning with three horses that had been backed down from double-figure odds to SPs of 6-1, 7-4 and 5-4. He is quoted as saying in this morning’s paper that he threw this gamble together in the past fortnight when a bunch of horses started to show improved form at home and that he needed a result after doing his brains at Galway.
This kind of thing has been part of racing’s rich tapestry since forever but it irks me that we’re still so accepting of it when such behaviour jars with modern expectations in wider society about how a sport should be run. The list of people aggrieved by what happened does not begin and end with the bookies who had to pay out; it includes anyone who backed anything else in those races last night and anyone who backed the Byrnes winners in their recent races, when they did not perform so well.
Whether fair or not, the impression given once again is that this is a sport in which insider knowledge is essential, where incoming punters are welcomed only because their losses will provide the winnings of someone who really knows what’s going on. Stewards and regulators should be much more interventionist when a well-backed horse shows dramatically improved form without an explanation that was offered by connections in advance.
Well-drawn front-runners might be the well-backed horses at Pontefract today, considering the ground is properly fast (GoingStick says 8.9). That leads me to Hilary J (4.10) from the Ann Duffield yard, who won her handicap debut recently at Thirsk.
She made all that day over six furlongs and the plan is surely to go off in front once more, now that she drops to five and has a handy draw in stall four. She’s only been raised 4lb and I fancy her to fight off these rivals at odds of 9-2.
Later, Kyllukey (5.10) runs from trap two over six furlongs. Twice a winner on the all-weather in the spring, he’s 0/8 on turf but has only had a couple of chances this year and seven furlongs was too far at Salisbury last time.
Graham Gibbons, who gets plenty of winners around here, rides for the first time. Charlie Hills’s runner is 4-1.
At Bath, Moss Street (4.00) is interesting, for the John Flint yard that is flying just now. Flint only got this horse in spring from Alan Jones, Moss Street having won a few races for Gordon Elliott in the summer of 2014.
That ability has been newly evident in recent starts over hurdles, a sphere in which Moss Street won at Bangor five days ago. He’s 0/5 on the Flat but has only had one start in the past three years and only five in total, so I’m happy to give him a chance of converting his return to form to the Flat, since his handicap mark now looks very inviting. He’s down to 5-1 from an opening 12s.
Tipping competition, day three
Our winners so far:
Monday
Snap Shots 7-2
Goring 18-1
Moonlightnavigator 5-4
Tuesday
Project Bluebook 6-4
Master Dancer 9-2
Firmament 9-2
And our leader is:
Crasivo +4
… who added Master Dancer to Snap Shots in what has generally been a low-scoring week. We apologise for the oversight that led to comments not being available on Tuesday’s Talking Horses until 2.45pm. Well done to those enterprising folk among you who posted Tuesday tips on Monday’s TH.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 3.20 Brighton, 4.40 Pontefract, 7.50 Yarmouth.
This week’s prize is a pair of County Enclosure tickets to York for the last day of their Ebor festival, Saturday 20 August, when the Ebor itself is the feature race. As well as the famous old handicap, you’ll also see the Gimcrack Stakes for flying two-year-olds. It’s a great day out at one of our most popular tracks. If you don’t win, you can 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 -6.
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!
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
