Today’s best bets, by Greg Wood
Not for the first time, the most valuable race of the afternoon has also attracted one of the smallest fields, with just five horses declared for the £11,500 Ladbrokes Handicap on the Tapeta at Wolverhampton. And, again not for the first time, it is actually quite a competitive event, with all five runners quoted at 7-1 or below on Sunday evening.
Pearl Nation (2.55), first and second on his last two starts, is vying for favouritism at around 2-1 and would be a fair bit shorter still if today’s race were at Southwell, the scene of his most recent outings and several more solid runs.
This will be his first try on Tapeta, but he went well at Wolverhampton when the Polytrack was down and he has plenty of form on decent ground on turf, which is also encouraging. His performance last time out over a mile was arguably better than his winning form over seven furlongs in mid-December and today’s extended eight furlongs will not be a problem.
Archipeligo (5.55) produced a career-best to lose his maiden tag on his Tapeta debut last time out and both the second and third in that race have gone close since. A 6lb rise is very fair, given that his win came in a good time, and he should be backed at 4-1.
At Plumpton, Bally Sands (2.30) has a good chance to make amends for last week’s unfortunate defeat at Ludlow, when his young jockey threw away a winning lead by trying to steer around the final fence, while Dawson City (3.35) made a successful step into handicap company when upped in trip last time out and should have enough in hand from an 8lb higher mark to follow up.
Tipping competition - a new week
Congratulations to Goldkid999, who won last week’s competition with a final score of +17 (see leaderboard below). Congratulations also to JahLion, beverley1976, Grazioli09 and cheriton, who were second, third, fourth and fifth, thereby also winning tickets to Ascot, since we had so many to give away. We’ve emailed you all regarding your prize, so please respond if you haven’t done so already.
This week’s prize is a pair of Premier tickets to Sandown on Saturday 31 January, when the feature race is a Grade One, the Scilly Isles Novice Chase. If you don’t win, you can buy tickets here. We only have one prize to offer this week, so no leaderboard, I’m afraid!
To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 3.35 Plumpton, 4.25 Wolverhampton, 5.55 Wolverhampton.
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!
Click here for all the day’s racecards, form, stats and results.
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
Last week’s final leaderboard
1 Goldkid999 +17
2 JahLion +16
3 beverley1976 +15
4 Grazioli09 +12.50
5 cheriton +11.50
orso +10
asem24 +10
wemeanyounoharm +8 can’t use prize
Blitzwing +6
Crasivo +6
Lindsey6677 +6
GForce1 +5.50 can’t use prize
William36 +4.50
waltersobchak +4
moidadem +2.50 can’t use prize
thereason1986 +2.50
kingklynch +0.50
Mai11 +0 can’t use prize
sandiuk -1
Mulldog -3
yasmin11 -3
tanias -3.50 can’t use prize
BearRides -3.50
paragoncup -3.50
CluelessWhisper -5
chris1623 -5.50
72luca -5.50
melonk -6
slackdad38 -7 can’t use prize
Sportingbest -7 can’t use prize
seandundee123 -7
Ormrod76 -7.50
Fixxxer -9
titusisashambles -9.50
16heathermac01 -11
wiggy12 -11
erifder -11
PHILYERBOOTS -11
Harrytheactor -11.50
valeboy -15
gildedvanity -15
lcprestes -15
TheVic -15
eddiegottheblues -15
diegoisgod -15
Shrewdette -15
dean055 -15
Ellandback -15
FastEddie68 -15
TIMEFORM -15
