Best bets for the horse racing over the Easter Bank Holiday

Away from the All-Weather Championships at Newcastle on Good Friday the big meeting of the Bank Holiday weekend is of course Newbury on Saturday with a couple of Classic Trials to enjoy. There will be a number making debuts at the meeting that are well worth a watch with the future in mind keep the notebook close to hand.  

Best bets for the horse racing at Newbury Saturday

At 2.25 we have the Group Three 7f Dubai Duty Free Stakes (Registered As The Fred Darling Stakes) for the Fillies, Wild Beauty is a filly I have followed including when backing her when last seen in the G.1 Bet365 Fillies' Mile at HQ last back end in which she was fifth. She proved herself top-class last season when winning the G.1 Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine, I tipped her for that as well, and she has track and trip form having won a Novice Stakes here back in June last season. She was by far the best two-year-old of this line-up and on breeding there is every reason to believe she will progress at three. I am on at 11-4. Shaara is the ‘could be anything’ horse and is feared. Dirty Dozen member Nazanin is in here and is not without each-way chances but though I remain convinced this filly can win races in 2022 I think she is up against here so is best watched today.

At 3.00 it’s the turn of the Colts on the 7f track for the Group Three Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes. Native Trail and New Science were both entered but won’t be here having run at Newmarket earlier this week and Corobeus goes straight to the 2,000 Guineas now after a racecourse gallop at HQ so Godolphin have gone from holding all the Aces in the line-up to not having a runner! Lusail wasn’t quite top class at two and is perhaps the speediest bred of the main protagonists and a straight seven may stretch his stamina. Perfect Power has a couple of G.1’s to his name already (Prix Morny and Middle Park) and was clearly a talented two-year-old but this step-up in trip is an unknown though there is the stamina for the distance on the Dam side of his pedigree. Angel Bleu has already proved he gets this far and more and also has a couple of G.1’s to his name (Jean-Luc Lagardere and Prix Criterium International) as a two-year-old but there is the question is his best form on soft going? His last defeat in the Listed Past Eddery stakes at Ascot on good-firm had the form franked well and truly by New Science though this week and that length defeat doesn’t look too bad at all now! I just favour the Ralph Beckett trained colt and have a bit of the 11-4  with Hills– he has drifted as money has come for Perfect Power.

Best bets for the horse racing at Musselburgh Saturday

Up at Musselburgh Zero Ten goes in the  1m6f Betway Queen's Cup at 3.14. He has to shoulder top-weight but over the Jumps he is rated 147 suggesting a mark of 107 here should prove lenient plus young Benoit De La Sayette take a further 7lb off his back. He ran in the G.1 Prix Royal-Oak last time and was far from disgraced there so looks a decent bet at the 3-1.  

Best bets for the horse racing at Newbury Sunday

Charlie Appleby will be saddling a few debutants at the meeting and they should all be watched but the one that really caught my eye in the entries is three-year-old Life Of Dreams in the 1m2f Highclere Thoroughbred Racing Maiden Fillies' Stakes at 3.21 on Sunday. If she runs, she will be backed being a daughter of Dubawi out of multiple Group winner for the stable, including the G.2 Lancashire Oaks, Endless Time. Her grandsires are Dubai Millennium and Sea The Stars and she has middle distance class throughout her pedigree.

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