Gifted Master is a value pick on Friday
Free betting tips: Simon Holt's best bets for Good Friday's action at Lingfield
Horse Racing
Fri March 30, 2018 · 7y ago
Top commentator Simon Holt marks your card for All-Weather Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday.
Recommended Bets
2pts win Gifted Master in 3.05 Lingfield at 4/1
1pt win Never Back Down in 3.40 Lingfield at 7/1
1pt win Mountain Bell in 2.00 Lingfield at 5/1
For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
Newmarket trainer Hugo Palmer could steal some of the limelight on All-Weather Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday with both GIFTED MASTER and NEVER BACK DOWN fancied in their respective races.
Gifted Master is top-rated on official ratings in the Betway All-Weather Sprint Championships Conditions Stakes and, in what may develop into a speed war with Kachy, he is fancied to stay on the better.
Gifted Master, who has won first time out in two of his three racing seasons, should be fresh and well having been given a break since his impressive win over the course and distance in November when, after duelling with that renowned speed-ball Caspian Prince (the pair five lengths clear at one stage), he kept on remarkably well in the closing stages.
James Doyle's mount showed excellent early dash to get across from a wide draw that day yet, as a past winner over seven furlongs and a mile, he is not short of stamina either.
Kachy also traded blows with Caspian Prince here more recently but had less in reserve at the finish, holding on only narrowly from Kimberella. A line through Intisaab, fourth in both those races, also suggests Gifted Master will have the edge.
Kimberella, last year's winner, is sure to go close again on that effort behind Kachy though has since run moderately at Wolverhampton.
Later on, NEVER BACK DOWN could complete a Palmer double in the 32Red 3-Year-Old All-Weather Championships Conditions Stakes under Josephine Gordon.
This son of Kodiac put up a remarkable performance when winning at Wolverhampton in early December as, after being twice hampered, he trailed the field leaving the back straight only to storm home down the outside and catch Music Society and Corinthia Knight (three times a winner since).
After promising plenty last spring, Never Back Down was absent until last October, returning to finish sixth in the Redcar 2yo Trophy, and it could be that he is about to fulfil his undoubted potential.
Corinthia Knight may well have improved since but not according to the handicapper who has kept him on the same mark.
Breathless Times, a lightly-raced son of Bated Breath who has won comfortably in his last two visits to Wolverhampton, is one who could be open to further improvement.
Earlier in the day, MOUNTAIN BELL can make her undoubted stamina count in the Betway All-Weather Marathon Championships Conditions Stakes.
Michael Bell's mare has been quite sparingly raced since beating the smart Desert Encounter at Chester and finishing second to Duretto in a Newbury Group Three in September/October 2016 (both very good efforts) but she relished a first attempt at two miles on her third start back when coming from an unpromising position to beat Cape Cova and the re-opposing Watersmeet and Lord George at Newcastle.
It's possible that the galloping nature of the course at Newcastle would be more suitable than Lingfield's various turns and short run-in, but she was easily on top at the finish that day and looks a potentially smart stayer.
On her previous start, Oisin Murphy's mount was keeping on well behind Red Verdon over a mile-and-a-half at Kempton and, with the latter stepping into unknown territory up four furlongs in trip here, she is fancied to turn round that length-and-a-half defeat.
French raider Funny Kid was beaten only a neck by Watersmeet at Wolverhampton in January over this distance, having earlier qualified at Deauville, and should not be underestimated.