Horse Racing Tips: Rory Delargy’s ITV Racing Best Bets for Saturday

Rory Delargy's going for Atlanta Brave at Newbury on Saturday.

By / Horse Racing Tips / 7 months ago

Rory Delargy’s Horse Racing Tips

Newbury 13:15 – Martator
Haydock 13:25 -Collectors Item
Newbury 13.50 – Get A Tonic
Taunton 14:10 – Casa No Mento
Newbury 14.25 – Atlanta Brave
Taunton 14.45 – King Of The Lake
Newbury 15.00 – Willmount
Newbury 15.35 – Ballycamus

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Newbury 13:15 – Martator

This doesn’t look the most competitive of contests and Martator appears the one they all have to beat after a creditable 4¾ lengths second of 8 to Etalon in a C&D contest ten days ago. He jumped well in front there and kept on when headed by the Dan Skelton-trained winner, putting up his best effort since joining Venetia Williams.

A repeat of that effort is likely to suffice here, as his main danger on recent form is Guy, who travels well in his races but is hard to win with over fences, while Richhill an unlikely starter having run at Doncaster on Friday. I think the Martator-Guy forecast is an appealing option in the circumstances.

Haydock 13:25 – Collectors Item

Collectors Item has been ridden on all but one of his starts to date by Jonjo O’Neill junior, but this stout stayer looks the perfect conveyance for the long-legged Richie McLernon, and he can finally show what he’s capable of over fences now granted a proper test of stamina. He ran really well over hurdles at Uttoxeter last March and I can see the Midlands National at that corresponding fixture as his ideal target, with the thorough test likely to be ideal for a gelding who was doing all his best work late having got outpaced over 3m at Sandown last time.

Newbury 13.50 – Get A Tonic

This isn’t an easy race to bet in with a case to be made for all the runners, and it’s just a token selection for me in the shape of Get A Tonic, who was so impressive when beating Anyharminasking over C&D last time. She’s gone up 6lb for that success, which complicates matters as it’s never easy carrying 12 stone in handicap company. Dan Skelton does seem to have found the key to her now, however, and her record short of 3m over hurdles now reads 211321, with the two most recent defeats at the hands of Hillcrest and Marie’s Rock.

Taunton 14:10 – Casa No Mento

I’d love Queens Gamble to win this and I’ve got her in my ten to follow for this season, but she wouldn’t want the ground soft as her only disappointment cam on yielding ground at Cheltenham last Spring in the Champion Bumper. Taunton does not get very deep, but if it’s genuinely soft that is a negative for her. She also made hard work of what looked an easy task on her hurdles debut too with some unconvincing jumping and would’ve been beaten in a better field.

And she doesn’t have a simple task here either. Based on what they’ve achieved over hurdles, Casa No Mento is the value. She’s been running on good ground too, but her best bumper effort was on soft ground in a listed race at Sandown on Imperial Cup day. All her best form has come right-handed too. She hasn’t been as good as Queens Gamble in bumpers but was useful and has taken very well to hurdling, winning easily last time in an ordinary novice hurdle at Hereford.

I don’t think there’s a huge amount between them, but taking all emotion out of it, Casa No Mento would have to be the bet at the current prices.

Newbury 14.25 – Atlanta Brave

The Mandarin isn’t quite the race it once was when it was a regular target for Gold Cup contenders like Mill House, Night Nurse, Ten Plus and Jodami, or even a stepping stone to the Grand National for Maori Venture and Party Politics. It is what it is, however, and victory over this trip at Newbury needs to be earned.

Atlanta Brave makes most appeal now getting a proper test of stamina for the first time under NH rules, and Kerry Lee’s youngster can defy his inexperience against opponents who are on the most part fully exposed. The five-year-old won a maiden point at Ballingarry in the style of a stayer and has shaped well on all starts since joining Kerry Lee’s Presteigne yard last autumn, with his lesser efforts coming after a break.

Atlanta Brave looked rusty on his chase debut at Cheltenham and showed improved form, when chasing home Enjoy Your Life at Exeter last time, getting outpaced and looking fourth best early in the home straight, but staying on best of all to be beaten two lengths at the line. He will benefit from the longer trip and remains thoroughly unexposed at trips in excess of three miles, with stamina very much his forte.

Taunton 14.45 – King Of The Lake

This is wide open though I’d be inclined to oppose Game Winner. He’s stepping back from chasing and looked well-handicapped potentially over fences but his jumping didn’t really pass muster at Sandown or Taunton, He might do better dropping back to hurdles but I’m don’t want to back horses with that kind of profile.

Moka De Vassy’s also shown to be a poor jumper at the best of times, so in this tight market I thought King Of The Lake might be the best horse to be on. There are plenty of winners in his linage, and trainer Jeremy Scott is very good at placing his horses. He’s never had particularly expensive horses come through his yard but he gets results all the time.

King Of The Lake has shown a fair amount of ability on all four of his starts to date. He hasn’t had a test of stamina yet, with all his qualifying runs under two-and-a-quarter miles, and he didn’t show any improvement despite a creditable run on his handicap debut at Exeter, but his pedigree is all about stamina and I think he’ll improve with the step up in trip. He strikes me as having improvement in him still.

Newbury 15.00 – Willmount

Some of the racing in the UK over the festive period has been lacking depth but the Challow field is certainly up to Grade 1 standard for the time of year and a cracking race is in prospect. Captain Teague is top rated but while his second in the Hyde Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in November when conceding weight looked good at the time, it has taken a couple of knocks since with The Big Doyen and Kinbara both well beaten since. Nicholls knows how to win the Challow, however, so it would be folly to ignore him.

Willmount is a horse I’ve been very keen on since day one, and I very much hope that he can take the step up in class in his stride after a facile win over shorter here in November. Willmount’s winning time, which was exactly five seconds slower than the handicap hurdle won by Brentford Hope caused some to suggest he had not achieved a great deal in victory, but the two races were run at very different tempos and it’s important to note that off a much slower pace, Willmount made up a huge amount of ground, relatively speaking, in the latter stages, and was just over ten seconds faster than Brentford Hope from the third-last flight.

That closing sectional confirms he’s a high-class hurdler, albeit not one necessarily in need of a step up in trip. Still, as a point winner out of a bumper-winning Old Vic mare, Willmount ought to be at least as good at this extended 2½ miles as he is at shorter, and he can confirm himself one of the best around with victory here.

Newbury 15.35 – Ballycamus

Timeform say that Walking On Air “will make a chaser”, a comment I would once have taken as gospel, but if he does take to fences, he will be defying strong family traits. His dam was a high-class bumper performer and hurdler but was never tried over fences, and none of her offspring have won over the bigger obstacles. Granddam Maneree did win over fences but showed her best form over the smaller obstacles and most of the family have been precocious types able to show useful form in bumpers but rarely having the longevity required to make a similar impact over bigger obstacles.

Ready preference here is for Ballycamus from the in-form Twiston-Davies stable. He made a winning start over fences at Chepstow three weeks ago, beating his older full-brother Ballybeen by three-parts of a length over 2m3½f, and he will benefit from the stiffer test here having shown he stays three miles over hurdles. He also won a point at Oldcastle as a four-year-old, giving weight and a length beating to Frere d’Armes, now rated 134 over fences. He’s 2lb wrong at the weights here, but a mark of 120 could prove lenient in time, and he’s expected to cope with the rise in class.

Rory Delargy’s Horse Racing Tips

Newbury 13:15 – Martator
Haydock 13:25 -Collectors Item
Newbury 13.50 – Get A Tonic
Taunton 14:10 – Casa No Mento
Newbury 14.25 – Atlanta Brave
Taunton 14.45 – King Of The Lake
Newbury 15.00 – Willmount
Newbury 15.35 – Ballycamus

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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