Wednesday’s Racing Tips – Featherweight My Delilah can take the step up in grade in her stride

Tuesday was a much more solid day with two of the four selections winning, one from each tipster.

It was a great front-running ride by William Buick on Aragon Castle. Keeping it simple is always the best way to win races, especially on the flat as you often find plenty of trouble in running when being held up, so seeing Buick making all gave me plenty of confidence during the race.

Paddy's Island was probably fortunate to win the way he did as the race was full of drama with the well-backed Snowden horse being hampered early on and then having to run out. But, you can only beat what's put in front of you and that is what Paddy's Island did, and if you got on the drifted odds of 3/1 then congratulations, as that was a fair chunk bigger than the 7/4 when advised.

Cairnzy's Tips

Thunder Run 13/8 – Thirsk 3.15

I have this contest between the top two in the market and on this occasion, I think the Haggas trained The Reverend is worth taking on. Not a lot separates the two in terms of price, with the Haggas runner currently shading favouritism at 5/4.

Don't get me wrong, The Reverend was impressive on debut, overcoming greenness to win by just under two lengths. That debut run came back in November of last year, and the layoff is a slight concern. The debut run was also on testing ground conditions and I'm unsure if the forecast quicker ground conditions will suit him, especially with not having a recent run under the belt. For the reasons just mentioned, I opted to go for Thunder Run, trained by Karl Burke and ridden by jockey Danny Tudhope.

Despite not winning on debut, Thunder Run was also impressive, showing clear signs of ability during that contest. I thought my selection travelled well into the race that day and stayed on well in the final furlong to run down the eventual winner to the line. He only went down by a length and a quarter that day and should have learned plenty from that outing.

Marlay Park 4/1 – Epsom 9.00

My last selection for Wednesday's racing comes in the last race of the day at Epsom. Hopefully, it's worth the wait as the race doesn't go off till 9:00! More times than most, I can barely keep my eyes open come 9 pm, but fingers crossed Marlay Park can get the job done for us.

I'm not surprised that Marlay Park has opened up as the favourite for this race, however, given how competitive the contest is, I was hoping to see him more around 5/1 or 11/2. He is back down to his last winning mark and returns to Epsom, a course that he enjoys running at.

Some horses run better at certain courses and my selection Marlay Park falls right into that category. He has run at Epsom 15 times throughout his career and holds a decent strike rate when doing so, his form figures when running at Epsom read 221321521344124.

His most recent run at Epsom was a cracking effort, finishing fourth in a warm class 2 handicap. The form of that particular run reads quite strongly given he didn't finish that far of the winner Rhoscolyn who was rated in the high 90s that day. The second-placed horse Mission To The Moon was also in decent shape going into that race and was actually sent of favourite to win that day. Mission To The Moon recently finished fourth in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot, so the form again reads well.

Rizzel's Tips

Treasure Isle 11/4 – Tipperary 5.40

My Delilah 11/4 – Bath 6.30

My normal approach to a race like this is to avoid the horse who is trying a better class race, despite being in decent form, and to go for a horse dropping down the ratings and hope they bounce back to form, but I’m going for the opposite today.

My Delilah is my fancy, she is at the bottom of the weights and is effectively running off a mark of 55 as Jack Doughty takes the ride today and takes off 5lbs, and considering she hasn’t had a claimer on board since Billy Loughnane was on board when she was rated 70 after he won on her the time before with ease off a mark of 63, she is on a very good mark with the 5lb claimer today. It can often show very quickly when a horse is up in grade as they are the first off the bridle, but in a race like today’s, a lot of the horses are out of form and have something to answer, whereas my horse has hit the frame the last two races at this track, and has found the 5f too short, so the extra .5f should help him out today. I am a believer that you’re only as good as your last run, and given that this filly is going to be receiving a tonne of weight from every horse in the race, she looks a solid bet.

Lil Guff is probably the main danger. She is a course winner and is on a decent mark, as she won off a 2lb higher mark last June over 5f at this track (last win). But, her form has been very in and out recently, and when you factor in she has to carry 10st 1lbs and will be conceding 22lbs to My Delilah, she’ll have to be on her A-Game.

Crimson Angel is a lightly raced horse, especially on turf with just two runs to her name in this sphere. She ran well last time given the circumstances, as she had the blindfold removed very late and lost many lengths at the start. She seems better on the AW, with two wins from nine efforts as well as a further three-placed finishes, but also she isn’t accompanied by the 7lb claimer who has been on her for most of her runs, which does make life tougher, even with the more experienced Richard Kingscote in the saddle, as she is carrying 10st.