Ben Linfoot free horse racing tips for Ascot and Longchamp Saturday October 5

The Verdict: Saturday October 5

1pt win Go Athletico in 1.50 Ascot at 7/1 (William Hill, BetVictor, Coral)

1pt win Wiltshire in 3.00 Ascot at 9/1 (Paddy Power, 8/1 General)

1pt win Cicero’s Gift in 3.25 Longchamp at 11/1 (William Hill, 10/1 General)

1pt win Brewing in 3.35 Ascot at 20/1 (bet365, Paddy Power)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Have a slice of Wiltshire at 9/1

There’s racing everywhere you look on Saturday with day one of Arc weekend at Longchamp complementing a busy afternoon of domestic action that sees Ascot, Newmarket and Redcar share coverage on ITV.

The Newmarket card didn’t really appeal from a punting perspective, for all that the Virgin Bet Sun Chariot Stakes has turned out to be a better race than it sometimes is given its participants have options over in France.

I couldn’t find a bet in the race and all of my domestic punts will be at Ascot where WILTSHIRE is the pick of the bunch in the Group 3 John Guest Racing Bengough Stakes over six furlongs.

The four-year-old has transformed himself since moving to William Haggas’, improving 12lb in four runs to a rating of 105 after victories at Newbury and Newcastle in his first three runs for his new yard.

However, it was his comeback run after three months off at Haydock last weekend that really caught the eye, as he almost defied dropping back to five furlongs in a field full of soft-ground specialists.

Denied only by the race-fit Blue Storm, who carried him left, he’s going to love stepping back up to six furlongs and this trip at Ascot on ground with a bit of cut in it looks ideal.

Last week’s second off 105 at Haydock looks as strong as any other piece of form in the race and he could well improve for the outing given he’d been off the track for 12 weeks.

The Verdict: Back WILTSHIRE in the 3.00 Ascot

Athletico to Go fast in the Rous

The Ascot card kicks off with the Listed BetMGM Rous Stakes over five furlongs and Haggas has a strong chance here with Relief Rally who is 5/4 favourite.

She could win after a very good comeback run after four months off at Newbury last month, where she finished second to Prix de l’Abbaye hopeful No Half Measures.

However, there’s no doubt she has been very well found in the market and on his best form GO ATHLETICO could have a big say in this for Ado McGuinness.

The key to this horse is the ground as he’s a different animal on soft conditions and five of his top six career performances have come on soft or heavy.

A dry forecast isn’t ideal given Ascot drains so well, but they’ve had a lot of rain there in the last month and I reckon McGuinness’ horse will get something like the conditions he craves.

He’s not had much luck in that regard this year and he’s run in a couple of races at the Curragh on quicker conditions than ideal since returning from a four-month absence.

However, he ran a much better race than his finishing position suggests last time, as he had every chance a furlong out and was pushed wide allowing a posse of horses up his inside.

A year ago he won the same race on soft ground and I think he’s in better form than his form figures suggest, while dropping back to a stiff five on ground with at least a bit of cut in it looks ideal.

The Verdict: Back GO ATHLETICO in the 1.50 Ascot

Brewing up a storm in the Challenge

The big betting race at Ascot is the BetMGM Challenge Cup over the straight seven furlongs and there are several in here with chances.

Golden Mind is 3lb well-in for Richard Fahey and I would’ve got him on side had his odds not contracted on Friday, while Popmaster and Akkadian Thunder were also high on the shortlist with their Ascot form in mind.

In the end I was drawn to that man Haggas again and his second string, BREWING, who looks a good bit of business at 20/1.

This horse is massively unexposed for a five-year-old, with just eight career runs under his belt and only one of those, his last one, was on turf.

He has improved this year, though, winning a good Kempton handicap that worked out well easily in January, taking his career record over seven furlongs to three from three.

Last month he returned from eight months off in a six-and-a-half furlong handicap on soft ground at Doncaster and he shaped well, showing signs of rustiness before staying on for fifth in a race where it paid to be on the front end.

That was encouraging with a race like this in mind and Hayley Turner, so good on the Ascot straight course, has options from stall eight, so a bold bid is expected in an open race.

The Verdict: Back BREWING in the 3.35 Ascot

Don’t miss Hills’ Gift in France

Over in France I was all set to side with Haggas in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu too as he bids to win the race for a third successive season with a daughter of Sea The Stars.

Sea Theme is his contender this year and she should love the ground, while the best run of her career came in France at Clairefontaine.

I think she’ll enjoy stepping up in trip, as well, but she halved in price on Friday and 13/2 looks about right now with Term Of Endearment and Caius Chorister looking obvious dangers.

I’ll leave the race alone but earlier on the card Charles Hills’ CICERO’S GIFT is worth a bet at double-figure prices in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein over a mile.

The Muhaarar colt has always been highly thought of and ran in Paddington’s St James’s Palace Stakes as a previously unbeaten three-year-old last season, before serious bone bruising in all four fetlocks kept him off the track for more than a year.

He returned at Sandown in July with a really impressive handicap win off 107 in soft ground, beating Holloway Boy who has done his bit for the form subsequently.

Cicero’s Gift hated the fast ground at Goodwood after that, but he put in a much better performance in a hot renewal of the Group 3 Superior Mile at Haydock last time when a close-up fourth behind Holloway Bay and subsequent Joel Stakes winner, Prague.

Outpaced on quicker than ideal conditions, it was encouraging that he’s taking his racing well and he should relish the juice in the ground at Longchamp in a race where the form of his Sandown handicap win is tough to match.

The Verdict: Back CICERO’S GIFT in the 3.25 Longchamp

Preview posted at 1540 BST on 04/10/24

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