Best bets for the All-Weather horse racing Saturday 19th January 2019

They race on the Polytrack at Lingfield Saturday afternoon and on the Tapeta up at Dunstall Park Wolverhampton for the evening meeting. It’s going to be a busy and long day at Triple G Towers as I fancy half-a-dozen.  That's a Saturday Heinz or Lucky 63 for you if you so desire.

The first race I am involved in is the very first race of the day at 12.50 the 1m2f Betway Live Casino Handicap. Narjes often goes well without winning but the mare looked in fine fettle when scoring over C&D three weeks ago. Luke Morris rides again which is seen as a positive and with a number of the likely early pacesetters drawn wide here he should be able to settle the mare in a nice spot just off the early pace coming out of stall six. At 9-4 she is the pick. Pivotal Flame is an obvious danger but she looks up against it under a 6lb penalty.

It’s the same C&D for the Betway Heed Your Hunch Handicap at 1.25. Forbidden Planet finally showed what he can do getting off the mark a fortnight ago on debut for his new yard having left Dominic Ffrench Davis for Roger Charlton. That track and trip win was his first try at a distance over a mile and he is fancied to follow up in this. Very lightly raced for a four-year-old the colt could be one to follow over the coming months with improvement to come hopefully. I grabbed a bit of the 5-4.

It’s 1m4f at 2.00 for the Betway Casino Handicap. Alan King has been waxing lyrical about Redicean this week in the racing press and the 5yo was an impressive winner over track and trip four weeks ago. He goes for the hat-trick having won over this trip at Wolverhampton before Christmas. Short enough at Evens he looks a solid bet.

The 3.10 is the 6f Betway Median Auction Maiden Stakes and there is not a lot of form to trawl through here. That said the Archie Watson trained Probability was a close second at Wolverhampton on her 3yo seasonal debut, first two pulled clear of the rest, and that piece of form sets the standard to my eyes. At 6-4 she is the pick and fancied to get her first victory.

Off up the M40 we go to Dunstall Park for the floodlight meeting at Wolverhampton. They have some real head-scratchers on the eight-race card but I think I have found two worth waiting for.

They face two-miles for the Betway Live Casino Handicap at 6.15. Your Band had been running well without winning but the step-up to this trip at Chelmsford looked right up his street last time as he won by fourteen lengths and I could have been twenty! The gelding has gone up 9lb for that victory but looked as though he had more than that up his sleeve. I am on at Evens.

I said at the start it would be a long day, having bet in the first race of the day I will also be punting in the lucky last. They face five furlongs for the Betway Heed Your Hunch Handicap at 8.15. Many will fancy Captain Ryan and he has responded well to cheekpieces winning both his starts over C&D this month. That said he hasn’t won off a mark this high since July 2015 and might be up against it at the weights in his hat-trick bid. Storm Lighting was a length behind Captain Ryan on the 2nd of this month in what was a bit of a bunch finish. He is 8lb better off with that rival here and a 1lb better with Shesthedream who was further back in ninth. The ten-year-old is more than capable of winning off this mark of 47 and is the selection to send punters home happy at 9-2. 

They also have some decent fair at Ascot, though I am not getting involved, including the Grade Three OLBG.com Mares' Hurdle and Grade Three Matchbook Holloway's Handicap Hurdle. Later on the card, Altior is long odds-on in the Grade One Matchbook Clarence House Chase at 3.35 after his main rival Un De Sceaux failed to feature among the final declarations. The omission of Un De Sceaux means Altior will face just Diego Du Charmil and Fox Norton. With all due respect to the other two if the Champ gets beat it will be a bigger shocker than when dairy farmer Sirrell Griffiths trained Norton's Coin turned over Desert Orchid and the rest to win the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup!

Be lucky