Free horse racing betting tips: Jamie Maynard's Chelmsford preview
All-weather expert Jamie Maynard previews the pick of the action at Chelmsford tonight and he's siding with an Ian Williams-trained favourite.
5.55 Chelmsford preview
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A trappy looking opener for punters to get stuck into here. Harvest Day made eye-catching late headway last time out at Newcastle on handicap debut and could figure here off the same mark although she would have prefered a lower draw. Rock On Baileys finished second in that race, only beaten half a length and her mark has too been unchanged. For me though, the two to focus on are Avon Green and Blessed To Empress, who ran against each other over course and distance last Thursday. The former came closest to winning that day, beaten in a tight finish and a repeat performance would see Joseph Tuite’s filly go close. However, BLESSED TO EMPRESS had to overcome a wide draw and was only beaten a length and a half by the second and she can reverse the placings here having been handed a better draw. Amy Murphy has booked Richard Kingscote for the ride this evening, and the pair have only teamed up three times prior to this, one of which included a win. She is the only runner in the field to have tasted success and winning form tends to bode well in these types of contests. She was returning from a short break the last day and should come on for this, I can see her going close.
7.30 Chelmsford preview
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The most expensive race on the card and on paper it looks set to be a good spectacle. Four of the field have won three or more times at this track, but the two with a realistic chance to be involved from them are Qaffaal and Pearl Spectre. The latter won in a lower grade here a fortnight ago and was a respectable fifth last week up a grade. He takes a further step up in class here but can’t be discounted. The former, trained by Michael Easterby, makes the long trip down from York and has been running well off similar marks to this earlier in the year and despite still sitting 2lb above his highest winning mark, could be in the shake up. One other of note is three-year old Pastime who is unbeaten on the synthetics and has only finished outside the front three once in eight career starts and that was on debut. He’s sure to go close if handling the polytrack, but my selection is the top-weight SHADY MCCOY. He’s won nine times with six of those coming over this seven furlong trip. He ended the turf season losing by a neck in a similar contest at Doncaster and had previously notched up a quickfire double in good fashion. He stepped up to a mile last Saturday back on the all-weather and although only beaten four-and-a-half-lengths in seventh, the trip may have found him out. He’ll appreciate this drop back to a much favoured distance and may have too much speed for them at the line. Ian Williams lost one of his stable stars, London Prize, at Cheltenham on Sunday and victory here will no doubt give the yard a massive boost.
Recommended bets
1pt win Blessed To Empress in 5.55 at 7/2
0.5pt e.w. Shady McCoy in 7.30 at 7/1
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Posted at 0835 GMT on 23/11/17.