Saturday Kempton & Chepstow tips, best bets and racing odds
Saturday's racing tips
Kempton tips: Rivals could be blown away by Lacey ace
It has been somewhat of a stuttering campaign to date for Herefordshire handler Tom Lacey, but recent results have suggested a marked improvement in fortunes and Blow Your Wad (Kempton, 4.10) could continue the resurgence on Saturday.
The seven-year-old has proved a little tricky to train in a 14-race career under rules to date, but when he's good, he's very good and this Class 2 handicap chase will seem like a home tie for the selection.
Blow Your Wad boasts form figures of 111 at the Sunbury venue and, with his stable finding some form at last – six winners from 32 runners since the turn of the year as opposed to four from 72 for the three months preceding New Year's Eve – Lacey's son of Walk In The Park makes plenty of appeal on betting sites to complete a fabulous Kempton four-timer.
Earlier on the card, the meeting opens with a competitive handicap hurdle and there is a chance Gold For Alec (Kempton, 1.15) remains well handicapped despite a 9lb imposte for his smooth Huntingdon win last time.
Trainer Tom Symonds has enjoyed a golden spell with his hurdlers of late – watch out for recent Newbury third Navajo Indy when he tackles three miles for the first time at the Grand National meeting – and the selection took a sizeable leap forward when asked to tackle two-and-a-half miles for the first time in January.
Jockey Ben Poste sauntered through that 14-runner handicap on the bridle and the manner in which Gold For Alec quickened away from his rivals once set alight suggested the five-year-old remains ahead of the assessor.
He boasts the opportunity to test that theory upped in grade on Saturday, but his cruising speed and affinity for a right-handed track could still make him a formidable opponent.
Blow Your Wad landed last year's running of the Grade 2 Pendil Novices' Chase and Rubaud (Kempton, 1.50) makes some appeal on betting apps to lift Saturday's renewal, even if his stamina isn't copper-bottomed at this new trip.
His pedigree suggests two-and-a-half miles should be within his compass on good ground so if the heavy showers miss Kempton, then Paul Nicholls' gelding should make his presence felt.
Rubaud's record competing right-handed when completing on ground no worse than good to soft is impressive (0112111211) with one of his rare defeats under those circumstances sustained at the hands of Constitution Hill. Given he is maturing as a chaser, the Ditcheat dynamo is worth supporting in the hope he sees out the extra four furlongs.
Stablemate Tahmuras (Kempton, 3.35) – available at 16/1 on some horse racing betting sites with four places on offer – is not one for the feint-hearted, but he was second to Blow Your Wad in Grade 2 company on this card 12 months ago and could reward a patient ride from Jonathan Burke.
The former Tolworth Hurdle winner is another much better served by going right-handed and four efforts this way round have yielded form figures of 1122.
Admittedly, his finishing effort can be called into question and he again looked to curl up a little at Wetherby when asked to go and win his race last time, but in Burke, backers have a superb rider for this type of project, and he could give players a fun ride at a tall price.
Chepstow tips: Watch out for course regulars
Over at Chepstow, there are a couple of course lovers which look worth siding with in Prince Quali (Chepstow, 3.07) and Bucephalus (Chepstow, 3.44).
The former beat a couple of today's rivals at the Welsh venue last spring when defeating Dr T J Eckleburg in February before seeing off Sans Bruit off his revised mark on April 1.
Robert Walford's eight-year-old is yet to find the winner's enclosure this term, but a return to his beloved Chepstow could work the oracle and he will find conditions to his liking.
Harriet Tucker has struck up a good relationship with Bucephalus and he returns to action on the back of a game, front-running effort at Newbury in January when out-pointing an unexposed rival in Norn Iron.
The selection had previously been overhauled by Castelfort here over the festive period, but with the form of that race endorsed by the likes of Gold For Alec (3rd), Double Click (5th) and Passing Kate (8th), he should again go well despite a 7lb rise for his Newbury victory.
His form figures at around two miles read an impressive 324331221.
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