Horse Racing Tips: Frank Hickey’s 4 fancies for a Monday Lucky 15

If you want the sharpest insights around racing in the UK and Ireland, there's no one better than Frank Hickey - here are his best bets for Monday

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Ripon 1.50 – Albadri

A very interesting Listed contest, where Internationaldream brings the best form to the table with his third place in the Group 3 Molecomb at Goodwood. That might not have been the strongest renewal of that race and I think one of the once-raced maiden winners looks worth chancing. Albadri and Bahrain Pride both won at Windsor on the same card and while the overall times were very similar, the sectional of Albadri was far more impressive and, considering he went off an unconsidered 100/1 shot that day, he can be expected to improve for that experience. The fourth from that race, Longlai, is rated 82, so it gives some context to how well Albadri ran on debut.

Considering he is from unfashionable connections, we might get a bigger price than we otherwise get and the trainer, Jane Chapple-Hyam has a strike rate of 33% for the last two weeks, so her form are in great nick.

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Southwell 2.40 – Dark Shot

Scot Dixon runs three here and Dark Shot might not be his number one but he is too well-treated to ignore. Last season he was beaten by a neck at York and by a neck in the Epsom Dash off 86 and was half a length second in a Listed race at York. He ran twice at Southwell at the tail end of the season also, finishing third off a mark of 87 and then finishing fifth, being beaten by just over two lengths off a mark of 85.

He has shown next to nothing in his four starts since the resumption of racing but now finds himself running here off a mark of 69, which is a full 16lbs lower than that fifth on his last start at Southwell. If he can rediscover any sort of form here, he could surprise at a fair price.

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Roscommon 5.00 – Autumn Mist

John Joseph Murphy has his string in fair form and Autumn Mist makes some appeal considering she ran a career-best last time on just her fourth handicap start. In fairness to her, since she stepped back up to a mile in handicap company, she has run well, finishing fourth at Bellewstown last season off 56 and following that up with a sixth at Galway off 54, when beaten by under five lengths.

She shaped nicely on her reappearance last time at Killarney when fifth, though finishing within five lengths of the winner. She should improve for the run and gets to run off the same mark as Killarney. The small worry is that she is dropping to seven furlongs but I’m hoping she will be ridden a little handier here and her stamina will be an asset at the finish on this testing ground.

DON’T MISS:

Roscommon 5.30 – Mean Fomhair

Mean Fomhair landed a lovely gamble here last September on his handicap debut and might well win for this first time since here off a 18lb higher mark.

Very consistent since, he was second twice, at Listowel and Navan, before a disappointing effort to finish the season at Leopardstown. He ran really well on his reappearance a couple of weeks ago here and is very likely to step forward for the run, and is only 2lbs higher here.

The trainer Gerard Keane highlighted what a good trainer he is when he landed the Irish Cesarewitch with Laighiguwant during the week and he might well be able to add another nice race here.

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