Racing tips: General Hubble looks potentially well-treated off a mark of 82 on handicap debut

This tip has expired. Please check our free horse racing tips section of the website to find the most up to date.

Drop Him In was a very well-backed winner at Huntingdon on Tuesday, tipped up at 10/1 and winning at 3/1. That's two days in a row we've been on gambled on horses from decent prices.

My strongest fancy of the day was a NR, which left us with Kalmoor who drifted out to 33/1 and wasn't up for it. He's obviously not the best of horses, but he doesn't look the most straightforward. The first time headgear didn't seem to spark any enthusiasm and Jack Quinlan rightly pulled him up.

Market Rasen 2:00 – Zara's Universe 11/4 (1pt)

I'm not a big fan of racing today, so I'll be keeping my stakes low and only sticking up a couple of selections. You've got a decent couple of races at Newcastle, but they look competitive and tricky to find a bet, so I've opted to stay at Market Rasen.

My first fancy is Zara's Universe. I really wanted to take on the favourite in this, Templier has won nicely on his last two runs, but he has gone up 14lbs for those victories, and at the age of 10 he might struggle to win off a mark of 96, even though he is in a rich vein of form. This race isn't a great race by any means, but he's short enough in the market and when you consider he is carrying 12st 7lbs on soft ground, that's a big ask.

Zara's Universe has only run over fences two times, finishing third on both occasions. She was well-fancied to run a big race last time out, as she was backed into 13/8F. She looked a bit outpaced that day, but did stay on again after jumping the last over today's C&D. I thought that was a decent effort and I thought she made an encouraging chase debut the time before when the leader got a 20L easy lead and wasn't for stopping, so that would've been a learning race for her and she definitely progressed last time around.

Market Rasen 4:20 – General Hubble 3/1 (1pt)

I am taking a bit of a chance on General Hubble, as it's definitely more of a guessing game with this horse than knowing he's going to run well.

He has had three starts over hurdles to date, finishing 5th, 9th and 10th, so based on those figures alone you're probably thinking what is he doing tipping him up? However, we all know how horse racing works, and how trainers/connections like to play the handicapping game, we've seen it on many occasions and will continue to see it until the BHA clamp down on it, which is a tough thing to do. This horse has always looked like a handicap blot for the future (hopefully today) as David Bass didn't ride him on his first two runs, and when he did get the ride on his final start he had him towards the rear like they were happy to run three stinkers and get a very low handicap mark.

This horse has been given a basement mark of 82, which is obviously very low. If we take a look at his pedigree, he should be miles better than a mark of 82. His mum is related to two black-type horses, Emmaslegend and Aimigayle were both rated 134 at their peak. He is by the Sire, Telescope, who has produced a few good staying NH horses, which is why it's interesting they've decided to put him up to 2m 4f on handicap debut. I think this lad will run over further as his handicap mark gets tougher, but for now, this trip should be fine. The cheekpieces are put on for this handicap debut, which is interesting. There are plenty of signs that a big run is coming.

Horse Racing Tips

🔗 Share Your Horse Racing Tips on Social Media