After Ben Linfoot bagged a 9/1 Friday winner, Nic Doggett returns with a look ahead to Saturday's racing and he has tips from around the tracks in the UK.
Saturday selections
MARK OF GOLD – 1.50 Sandown (NAP)
With a record of 12 wins from 37 starts under all codes, MARK OF GOLD has been a fantastic servant to connections and he clearly doesn’t have a problem with shouldering big weights, with all three Flat wins coming under 9st 7lb or more, and six of his nine wins over jumps achieved carrying weights of 11st 6lb or more. He’s the class act in the bet365 Josh Gifford Novices' Handicap Chase and should relish the drop from a Grade 1 having chased home Impaire Et Passe at Aintree at the start of the month. Prior to that he’d beaten Soul Icon – who went on to run well in the Topham - at Exeter, a performance that suggested his earlier efforts in quality graded novice contests had taught him plenty. This BHA mark of 144 looks within range and on ground that suits he looks sure to outrun his double-figure odds.
SERGEANT WILKO – 2.05 Leicester
The stalls are on the stands’ side on Leicester’s sprint track so a high draw of 11 for likely pace-setter SERGEANT WILKO could prove ideal as he returns to action following a very successful 2024 season which featured four wins, one of which came on his reappearance. He’s now 17 lb higher than for that success but the way he ran off 1 lb higher in the Coral Sprint Trophy won by Strike Red at York when last seen in October suggests that he isn’t handicapped out of things. Assuming he goes the right way following a gelding operation over the winter, he could get an easy lead and is fancied to see off former William Haggas inmate Germanic who has a first run for Julie Camacho here but she only has a 6.52% strike-rate (12 wins from 184 runners) with stable switchers so this may prove more of a fact-finding mission.
MYAL – 2.40 Haydock
MYAL is up in grade again but there’s no doubt that he deserves a crack at these better races given the progress that he made last season. Once stepped back up to seven furlongs in handicaps, he racked up a four-timer and leapt from a BHA mark of 67 to winning off 82 on his final start at Doncaster. He then ran a blinder in the Spring Mile at Doncaster on his reappearance from a mark of 90, only pegged back in the final furlong having shown a good turn of foot when skipping clear at the two-furlong pole. The drop back to this C&D will suit, and he has a good draw to work from; with a good tow into the race from Gorak in stall 1, he’s fancied to get first run on Thunder Roar who was ahead of him on Town Moor and the class-dropping English Oak.
SURREY BELLE – 5.05 Ripon
There’s a chance that the class-dropping Mr Hampstead might attempt to stamp his class from the front, but he’s up in trip and with a Timeform pace prediction of ‘weak’, there’s a good chance that SURREY BELLE will be able to dictate her own terms. Picked up from the yard of Hughie Morrison in October, she won twice over hurdles for Adrian Keatley in February and is rated better than she was able to show in a two-mile handicap hurdle at Kelso last month where she didn’t jump well. She’s only 3 lb higher than when successful on the level at Haydock last September and is fancied to put her race fitness to good use here from the front.
INVISIBLE – 5.50 Doncaster
She doesn’t represent one of the big yards in the race, but the Tom Clover-trained INVISIBLE showed marked improvement from first to second starts when runner-up – at 100/1 - at Chelmsford last month. She was arguably a little unlucky not to win that day, coming wide and from further back than the winner, and the form has been franked by Hey Boo going on to be second in a Newbury Group 3 and the third Forty Years On winning over this C&D. Clover has a 33% strike-rate (5/15) with his three-year-olds on Town Moor and this daughter of Pinatubo is fancied to see off Alfareqa and Kinswoman who have both shaped with promise.
Want to know more about horse welfare within our sport?
2025 winners
- Glory And Fortune 9/1
- Against The Wind 3/1 (NAP)
- Maelstrom 6/5
- Cruyff Turn 3/1
- Saint Segal 5/1
- Indemnity 11/4
- Greyval 13/2
- A Moments Madness 3/1
- Field Of Gold 10/3
- Treasure Fleet 9/4 (NAP)
- Fever Dream 11/10
- Audacious Annie 6/5
- Pottlerath 4/1
- Party Bear 3/1
- Strong Warrior 8/13 (NAP)
- Capla Lazarus 4/1
- Dorney Lake 5/2
- Detain 5/4 (NAP)
- Jackpot Cash evens
- La Dolce Dolly 5/4 (NAP)
- City Of Delight 13/2 (NAP)
- Godwinson 15/2 (NAP)
- Tuco Salamanca (5/6)
- Siam Park 13/8
- Media Mogul 85/40 (NAP)
- Star Legend 3/1
- Kalium 8/1 (NAP)
- Leave Of Absence 9/4 (NAP)
- Regarde 5/2
- Gemmari 11/4 (NAP)
- Timetoshine 9/4
- Tuco Salamanca 7/4
- Jagwar 3/1 (NAP)
- Penzance 3/1
- Youdecide 15/8
- Pururhandstogether 17/2 (NAP)
- The Organiser 6/5
- Skin Full 13/8
- Millie Supreme 9/2
- Heads Or Harps 11/8
- Party Vibes 7/2
- I See The Sea 2/1
- Le Tiep's Sacre 100/30
- Born In The West 2/1 (NAP)
- Awaythelad 9/2
- Charmaine 2/1 (NAP)
- Henrysbrotherjack 11/8 (NAP)
- Outer Banks 9/1
- Elterwater 5/2
- Glen Buck 10/11 (NAP)
- Teddy Blue 7/2 (NAP)
- Ray Gun 18/5
- Sun Keeper 5/1
- Jackpot Cash 3/1 (NAP)
- Arcadian Nights 100/30
- Leadenhall Street 5/4 (NAP)
- Pic D'Orhy 9/5
- Golden Ace 6/5
- Myretown 5/2 (NAP)
- Apiarist 11/2
- Sainte Doctor 4/1
- Plage De Lavre 5/4
- Aviemore 4/1
- Rey De La Batalla 11/2
- New Found Fame 6/1
- Pilgrims King 5/1
- Saint Anapolino 10/3
- Blue Anthem 5/1
- Buzz Box 5/2
- Dance In The Storm 8/11
- Northern Cracksman 9/4
- Kylian 9/4
- Sol Cayo 2/1
- George's Lad 10/11
- Beauty Generation 15/8
- Komedy Kicks 11/4 (NAP)
- Our Havana 6/1
- Manara 2/1
- Jimmy Knocker 13/2
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