The third and fifth from the Betfair finished 1-2 in the Imperial Cup at the weekend so that form looks solid. In between times, Iberico Lord was well beaten at Ascot and perhaps it was a combination of the slower pace and faster turf that did for him. It should be at least a little bit softer here but whether there’s much pace in the race remains to be seen. Whilst he’s obviously progressive, he’s got about a stone and a half to find on official ratings if the favourite runs to within a pound or three of his mark. He’d previously been only 1 1/2 lengths behind Stay Away Fay on softer ground at Sandown where he travelled strongly through the race before being continously hampered by a loose horse around the 3rd last fence. He still cruised upside the eventual winner as the pair jumped the last and kept on nicely up the run in but wasn’t quite able to keep a straight line and keep tabs with Stay Away Fay in the last 100 yards.

Michael O’Leary, the owner, speaks

The opening day always majors on speed, quality, and drama from the get-go, with a double-barrelled Grade 1 two-mile novice volley to kick us off. Irish-trained runners have more than twice the strike rate of their counterparts trained in UK. Moreover, they’ve enjoyed a 55p in the £ difference in their returns, and a clear differential between the A/E indices.

Breeders’ Cup 2024 at Del Mar: a look at Aidan O’Brien’s team on Saturday night

He’s since won another five Supremes, each ridden by the stable jockey (Ruby four times, Paul Townend once). That Paul has opted for Tullyhill is a potential red herring this year because Mystical Power has a retained jockey – and there is nothing to separate them in the market as I write (Sunday afternoon). Well, classy types have a decent record in the race and Ballyadam, despite the steadier of twelve stone, has bundles of it. A hard task off top weight, but definitely one for those exacta and trifecta mixes.

Horse racing in the UK

Horses that raced outside Graded/Listed company have a poor record. The graph illustrates a clear upwards trajectory with the last four years averaging out at just under 20 per meeting (19.5 to be precise). Essentially this means that around 70% of all races in the past four years have had an Irish-trained favourite. Compare this to the first five years (2008 to 2012) where the average was 7.4. My main focus will be looking at the data as a whole – market factors, last time out (LTO) factors, etc.

Latest Tips

There have been ten headgear-wearing winners of all aged handicap hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival since 2008, from 293 runners. That’s a 3.41% strike rate for a loss of 119 points (ROI -40.61). Those without headgear won 37 from 865 (4.28% SR, -256 at SP, ROI -29.6%). There’s no shortie in the betting this time, current prices being 3/1 and upwards your pick. Tenuously top of that pile is Telmesomethinggirl, trained by Henry de Bromhead and running in the Kenny Alexander colours of Honeysuckle, meaning it could be quite a 45 minutes or so for connections. This mare won the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival over two miles, but has been beaten in all three starts since.

Friday’s Horse Racing Tips

By incorporating these elements into your betting routine, you pave the way for a fulfilling and sustainable journey in the world of horse racing. Effectively utilising free horse racing tips requires a strategic approach that combines expert insights. Rebel’s Romance was then off the course for 300 days before returning to Dubai at the start of this year, suffering wide-margin defeats in his two attempts. But, on the back of another 134-day lay-off, Will Buick’s partner sprang back to form in the Listed Fred Archer Stakes at Goodwood on the final Saturday of June.

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Among a clutch of lightly raced juveniles, Bolt Action, Kaasib and Paddy’s Day all merit a second look. A short-head Wolverhampton maiden victor in November, Fast Company’s son made his return for 2022 in the Listed Burradon Stakes on Newcastle’s All-Weather Championships Finals card in April. Simply register, place you £10 bet on horse racing and you will receive £30 in free bets. The four-year-old grey has improved this season, winning a Listed race at Doncaster and the Group 2 bet365 Mile at Sandown, while he was second to Audience in the Lockinge at Newbury last time out.

The Betfair selections we are trading above are UK time. Only filled trades or bets appear on JuiceStorm TV.

• By doing those simple steps you’ve already started to read the form, albeit at its simplest.
• It won’t stop him, as such, but he’s effectively 19lb higher than when beating In Excelsis Deo two starts back, and I don’t think it has been factored into his price.
• His trainer, Brian Ellison, had the third in this race last year with Nietzsche and I sense The King Of May is a far better horse than him.
• Trained by Mullins for Ricci, he was presumed for the Turners after his romp in the Grade 1 Faugheen Novices’ Chase over two and a half miles at Christmas.
• Elliott’s team, meanwhile, has been in top form despite the challenging circumstances.

We work with the belief that every race and every meeting is important, so we’ll give exactly the same coverage to a Monday night meeting at Windsor or an ITV Racing covered race at Newmarket. I still think a mark of 67 somewhat underestimates BRAZEN BOLT and back over this track and trip he looks to have plenty going for him. He travelled notably well before winning convincingly on penultimate start and I can see a similar scenario panning out here.

Champion Chase – 2-0 to the Girls

The way he jumped/travelled that day marked him down as one who will be well served by the demands of this race. CAPADANO (each-way) has had a better prep this season and can improve on last year’s showing in the Grand National. Get ready to listen to a friend of a friend tell you a 50/1 shot will bolt up and after all of your research, your Granny backs the winner because Bolts Up Daily she liked the jockey’s colours. Tiger Roll’s 2019 Aintree heroics in partnership with Russell was the first time a horse had won back-to-back renewals since Red Rum in the 1970s. “He’s been bumping into some good horses and he’s a tough old dude, he’s Taghrooda’s brother. I like feeling that we have been a part of the process and it is not just because it’s a good horse.

• Mark Walsh rode Bleu Berry after Paul Townend, the stable jockey, switched to Max Dynamite which was due to be Ruby’s ride.
• Arriving at a selection is also fun, the process taking a good bit longer than the actual event for most ‘serious recreationals’.
• This is perhaps the simplest of the five differentiators.
• MT – This is a great betting race, as it’s a different test from most of the races through the season and throws up some big priced winner as a result.
• The leading trainer in the Ayr Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals is Kevin Ryan who has won the race five times with those five winners coming from Advanced (2007), Our Jonathan (2011), Captain Ramius (2012), Brando (2016) and Bielsa (2021).
• So, during this short hiatus from decent turf action, I thought it might be worth looking at a couple of the more interesting ‘side bets’.
• Easysland was expected to bolt up before flopping at the November meeting; he was then expected to race in France as a preparation but skipped that, too, so comes in off that solitary, below par, effort.

If you are scanning a race, spot a horse making its handicap debut (or even its second run in a handicap), and you don’t make a note to look a tad more closely at said runner, more fool you. Draw and run style seem to be fairly well subsumed into market prices these days; at least into starting price market prices. That leaves an opportunity on earlier shows to snaffle some value. But the big opportunity in my view is with draw and run style in concert.

The nine attributes that make City of Troy so special

We have already noted some positives connected with Irish runners or those that raced in Ireland last time. It goes without saying that the vast majority of horses racing at Cheltenham that raced in Ireland last time out would have been from Irish stables; in fact 97% of them were. LTO winners outside Graded and Listed company have by far the poorest strike rate as you would expect. They have incurred losses of £116.97 (ROI -8.3%) over the period of study. LTO winners outside Graded and Listed company have not surprisingly struggled even more when the race at Cheltenham is a Graded one – in these races their record reads 50 wins from 957 (SR 5.2%) for a loss of £149.46 (ROI -15.6%).

• These include such sentimental veterans as Cue Card, Big Buck’s and Kauto Star, all of whom were sent off at 9/2 or shorter since 2012.
• Meanwhile, last day winners have secured 141 wins from 1200 runners (SR 11.8%).
• To frame this year’s expectation, we need to look backwards.
• One final thing I would urge you to do is to check the Racing Post Ratings, which are usually found to the left-hand side of the odds.
• The main concern with him is that he has run poorly on his last two starts.
• So, where should you be going to place your bets on horse racing?
• But if Energumene is ridden more conservatively, there are two possible dangers.

Lingfield Horse Racing Trends (ITV)

• Although horses that either finished 3rd LTO or 5th or worse have made a profit, this is down to big prices skewing the figures.
• I napped him on the latter occasion, so am unlikely to forget it.
• I think he’s very likely to be found out in a race as hot as this, especially with other pace players from the get go.
• REBEL’S ROMANCE, who is unbeaten in three starts in Europe, rates much the best option.
• In that spirit, I’ll take the Brits to beat the Irish, primarily through Jpr One and Master Chewy.
• Being late in the flat season, the race can be run on testing but it does usually drum up plenty of interest with good-sized fields.
• A fine fourth of 15 in the Coral Gold Cup (Hennessy as was) in November was his most recent run, though that was 108 days ago.

Much has been made of the wind operation that prevented him returning to racecourse action until Newbury last month, but it was a minor procedure that he underwent. Altior showed the problem was behind him when soon putting Politologue to the sword that day and winning by four lengths. This was a fine display – close to his best previous form – as Politologue had been in the ascendancy with three smart wins in top class races to his credit.

Nicky Henderson on his fifth Champion Chase win

What really puts me off Harper’s Brook is his record at Cheltenham where he has raced four times without beating a single rival. I’ll be mildly surprised if he finishes the race and stunned, I tell you, STUNNED if he manages to win. I will have to lie down in a dark corner for quite a long time, in fact. He improved again when fourth in the aforementioned Betfair Hurdle last time, not getting the best of luck in the run but staying on strongly after the last and looking for all the world like a step back up in trip would suit.

LH – Can’t make a strong case for Honeysuckle, but can see why she’s stepped up to Mares’ Hurdle distance. Epatante appears to be regressing more slowly than Honeysuckle and “mullered” some lesser horses at Doncaster last time. Interested in Love Envoi and Maries Rock if she shows here, but not Echoes In Rain. Best form seems to be on soft, could be a place lay on a sounder surface. At longer prices, Diverge and Doctor Bravo are mildly interesting in what looks a very open and potentially substandard renewal.

Charlie Fellowes’ speedy mare won this in 2021 and grows an extra leg when the mud is flying. She has won three times on soft and heavy ground and conditions are in her favour. Again we see winners up and down the odds boards, with the sweet (but highly unpredictable and potentially coincidental) spot being north of 25/1 and south of 80/1. Those unconsidered athletes have bagged nine of the 50 races for a profit of 23 points at SP and 331 points at BSP (thanks almost entirely to one enormous return). Of the 964 runners in such races in the past ten years, 842 (87%) were aged five to eight (ignoring the Fred Winter). They won all bar two of the races (95%), and claimed 92% of the places.

Paul Kealy’s five-step guide to finding a winner

Winners of one or two races on heavy are 1.4 times more likely to win than heavy maidens; and winners of three heavy ground races previously are more than 1.5 times more likely to prevail than maidens on that extreme of going. This horse is having its second run after a wind op and its first wearing a tongue tie. Both of those might be expected to eke out a little improvement; and look at the contextual snippets block – accessed by clicking the trainer icon (with the red box around it). There we see Fry’s two year record with handicap debutants at any track, which is fairly unexciting, but note above it his record when moving a horse notably in distance. A perfect example of a terrible race in need of a winner, with a single horse moderately favoured by conditions and within a few pounds (see right hand columns) of its last winning mark.

The Festival Bumper is a good example of race trends evolving, and the trend is away from big-priced winners. Four of the last five winners were returned 7/2 or shorter and the outlier was the 11/1 Willie Mullins trained Ferny Hollow ridden by Paul Townend. All the last ten winners of the Champion Bumper where LTO winners and all of them were aged five or six. Firstly, it’s well established that for all his talent he is ungenuine and has twice pulled himself up in front after trading at 1.01 on Betfair. I napped him on the latter occasion, so am unlikely to forget it.

Best of the (limited) British defence is probably Mister Coffey, a perma-bridesmaid trained by Nicky Henderson. He’s finished second in five of his last six starts, a run that includes the G1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase of last year and the Kim Muir a month later. He looked a strong stayer at last season’s Festival and this test might be just the ticket.

So the Irish are sending more runners than they did more than a decade ago, and are winning on average more often. LH – Worried about Mighty Potter potentially not handling the travel/prelims again after last year. Could be different story this time but he has to overcome that and is very short in the betting considering. Banbridge is more straightforward and Balco Coastal is interesting at a bigger price, too.

This includes the Kiplingcotes Derby – the oldest horse race that we can still enjoy today – which was first run in 1519. A complete revelation since turning to point to points, ROCKY’S HOWYA beat Chatham Street Lad by 45 lengths last time out. He has won by a combined 122 lengths in his 5 point to point starts and if the form holds up here, he will be very hard to beat and it’s hard to see him out of the frame.

The hood was left off Alcala on latest start, when he was well beaten before falling two out. The headgear returns today but he is a very risky proposition. A final word on the thrilling exhibition by Un De Sceaux yesterday which crowned an outstanding day for Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh. Many had been premature in casting doubts over the Mullins yard and the early prices on offer for Un De Sceaux were value –  which we took full advantage of.