Mick Fitzgerald’s Saturday ITV Racing Tips
13:50 Newbury – Alyanaabi
14:05 Market Rasen – Flying Fortune
14:25 Newbury – Naqeeb
14:40 Market Rasen – Kihavah (each way)
15:00 Newbury – Regional
15:15 Market Rasen – Statuario, Parisencore
15:35 Newbury – Kaadi
*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.
13:50 Newbury – Alyanaabi
It’s Newbridge Super Sprint day and we start off with the Steventon Stakes. Alyanaabi, who ran in the St James’ Palace, is going to be a warm order here for good reason as he’ll love the ground conditions and had a good run in the 2000 Guineas.
I feel a bit mean leaving Al Aasy out. The ground is going to dry out and that’ll be interesting. If Al Aasy had already a run I’d be keen on him, but he hasn’t and that just puts me off. For that reason, Alyanaabi gets the nod.
14:05 Market Rasen – Flying Fortune
The first of three live races from Market Rasen is a handicap hurdle over two-and-a-half miles. If you could guarantee me that Flying Fortune would jump well I would be very happy and that’s the one I’m going to take a punt on.
She’s very well handicapped off a mark of a 109 and a lot of that is down to her jumping. She’s worth taking a chance on because I don’t think there’s any super star in this field.
14:25 Newbury – Naqeeb
This is a very competitive handicap, you can make a case for a few of these. I quite Kyle Of Lochalsh, who had a very good run at Ascot, but the selection is Naqeeb, who ran well in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot. He got stopped quite a few times there and it didn’t quite work out for this son of Nathaniel that day.
The William Haggas’ yard is in better form now than they were at Royal Ascot and remember that Naqeeb won a valuable handicap at Haydock last year off a mark only 3lbs lower than he races off now.
14:40 Market Rasen – Kihavah (each way)
A decent prize on offer again and Dan and Harry Skelton’s runner Mostly Sunny is only a five-year-old and is very lightly raced. The other one that gets a weight-for-age pull is Manuelito, who I thought ran better than his finishing positions in previous runs. He was sent up to Carlisle on Wednesday for a Flat race just to keep ticking over and ran well enough too.
The value for me in this race though lies in Kihavah as an each-way selection. He likes Market Rasen having won at the track – beating the progressive Shallow River that I owned – and has been running very well on the Flat. Trainer Adrian Keatley knows the time of day and at the prices, he’s one I really like each-way.
15:00 Newbury – Regional
Regional is favourite for very good reason. That was a very impressive run in the King Charles III at Royal Ascot behind the Australian horse Asfoora when Big Evs was behind them.
He sets a good standard and ground conditions will be absolutely perfect for him. That could be key to beating three-year-old’s Elite Status and Lake Forest. The latter hasn’t been marked up on his run at Ascot, which was a very solid effort considering the start, but I think Regional will win.
15:15 Market Rasen – Statuario, Parisencore
Peter Bowen has such a strong record in this race, which makes it very hard to ignore his runners. I’d love to back two in it. The first is Parisencore for Nicky Richards. He had a good win at Perth the last time and the handicapper has only bumped this son of Walk In The Park up 3lbs. It’ll be interesting to see if he can back that up. He’s definitely a player.
The second is Statuario for the Bowen team. He ran third to stablemate Francky Du Berlais in 2022 and is progressive. He won well at Perth last time out. The only concern I have is he’s taken a good hike in the ratings, but I still fancy him.
15:35 Newbury – Kaadi
The big race of the day is the very valuable Wetherbys Super Sprint – the winner gets £128,000! I feel Kaadi should be a shorter price.
Karl Burke trains and she ran a really good race on soft ground at Deauville last time and before that at York on ground very similar to what we’re going to have at Newbury. I’m willing to take a punt on her over this 5f trip.
Ground conditions will be all important – it will dry like crazy at Newbury – and could be fast ground by the time this race goes off.
Mick Fitzgerald’s Saturday ITV Racing Tips
13:50 Newbury – Alyanaabi
14:05 Market Rasen – Flying Fortune
14:25 Newbury – Naqeeb
14:40 Market Rasen – Kihavah (each way)
15:00 Newbury – Regional
15:15 Market Rasen – Statuario, Parisencore
15:35 Newbury – Kaadi
*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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