Horse racing: The best bets and latest news plus our weekly tipping competition

The latest news and best bets, plus the fourth day of our weekly tipping competition

Today’s best bets, by Tony Paley

The pro-punter Dave Nevison said on Racing UK last night that he had pulled up stumps and had stopped betting over jumps. He said the ground had become atrocious and he was also fed up studying meetings that were then the subject of three or four inspections before they got the go-ahead.

The Racing & Football Outlook columnist has got a point. The more the ground gets desperate the more difficult punting gets. Horses aren’t suited by heavy going - it’s just that some are more inconvenienced by others.

One thing that is definitely true is that lightly weighted runners have an advantage in very soft conditions as it’s more difficult to hump around lots of lead in those circumstances. That’s why Carrig An Uisce (2.30) catches the eye at Huntingdon. He bounced back to form at Hereford last time and can run off the same mark today whereas the handicapper has raised him 4lb for future races. The ground should not be a problem for Carrig An Uisce and a big run is expected.

On the all-weather Harting Hill (8.10) looks the best bet at Kempton’s evening fixture. He has looked to have a little in hand when victorious on his last two starts and it is unlikely that a 5lb rise in the weights will stop him making a blod bid to complete his hat-trick.

For those of you looking for a horse to follow at present can I recommend Rock A Doodle Doo who won yesterday at Lingfield. He scrambled home but the race was slowly run and that will mean he won’t go up in the weights much next time. Hoofnote: the horse is owned by a syndicate involved in the record industry and named their horse after a terrific 70s tune by Linda Lewis. Here it is for your delectation. Enjoy.

Tipping competition, day four

Like Master Minded and Twist Magic in next month’s Champion Chase, shears39 and Harchibald shot clear of the field yesterday, thanks to 20-1 winner Share Option. But which will turn out to be the multiple Festival hero and which is the one that never actually wins there? RoryD and Notgethithatonharry kept in touch with Chief Dan George (7-1).

Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 2.30 Huntingdon, 4.10 Huntingdon, 4.40 Huntingdon.

This week’s prize is a copy of “It could be you”, an Irish horse racing DVD that follows the fortunes of two ownership syndicates through the last jumps season, including the Goat Racing Syndicate, owners of Forpadydeplasterer.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not yet joined in this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -7.

For terms and conditions click here.

Good luck!

Standings after day three

shears39 +17

Harchibald +17

RoryD +7.25

Notgethithatonharry +7.25

TeddyFrost +6

tiznow +6

suckzinclee +4

cloudy75 +3

Cairo +3

fatdeano +2

23skidoo +2

factormax +2

Shrewdette +2

Brochdoll +1

Renzofan +1

chris1623 +1

kentaylor24 –0.75

johne5knuckle -3.75

chiefhk -4

TheSheikh -4

diegoisgod -4

mike65ie -4

sandiuk -4

FinsburyPark -4

rorebhoy -4

MatthewHargreaves -4

leviticus67 -4

Smidster -4

Pomme -4

Moscow08 -4

Sangfroid -4

socialwanderer -4

MISTERCHESTER -4

goofs -7

WalthamstowLad -7

tom1977 -7

Mulldog -7

Blitzwing -7

erifder -7

gashead1105 -7

melonk -7

15244 -7

MrPositive -7

Mai11 -7

Harrytheactor -7

JDK1 -7

TheVic -7

stee33 -7

millreef -7

SussexRH -7

MrWinnersSonInLaw -7

Viejo -7

Rivercity -7

DrKelso -7

xwireman -7

Dangalf -7

Touche1 -7

emmapathak -7

Gluesniffer -7

FredS –7

Ayr abandon and Warwick to take a look

This afternoon’s meeting at Ayr has been abandoned due to frost. Clerk of the course Hazel Peplinski called a 6.45am inspection as the track was still frozen on Wednesday. That check showed the frost is still in the ground and Peplinski had no option but to call off the meeting.

Peplinski added: “Unfortunately on the grounds of safety the track failed the inspection due to frost remaining in the ground in parts. Despite 13 millimetres of rain, the track would not be sufficiently frost free by the afternoon.”

Officials at Warwick will stage a precautionary inspection at 7.30am ahead of Friday’s meeting due to an adverse weather forecast. While track conditions are perfectly raceable at present, clerk of the course Andrew Morris has decided to take a look on the morning of racing due to the forecast of further rain overnight.

“We’re going to have a look at 7.30am but it’s really precautionary due to the threat of rain overnight,” said Morris. “The forecasts we are getting are pretty inconsistent and we could get anything between five and eight millimetres of rain. We’re confident we’d be comfortable with five and we may be able to take eight, but we really don’t want any more than that. We’re perfectly fine at the moment and we’ll see what tonight brings.” PA

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Read the full story at The Guardian