UK Horse Racing Tips

The K Club Handicap (3.35) at the Curragh on Sunday revolves, largely, around Allegio, who defied a 10lb rise in the weights when winning a Cork handicap by half the track in April and has a further 13lb rise to contend with this time. Considering he was beaten off handicap marks of 74, 79 and 82 last season, Denis Hogan’s 5-year-old has clearly struck a rich vein of form but, while he would almost certainly have won off today’s mark of 101 last time, whether he’s up to the task in this much more competitive race must be open to question.

Under the circumstances, I prefer to side with Claregate Street who, despite a 9lb rise for winning a fillies’ handicap the all-weather at Dundalk, carries a relative “featherweight” of just 8st 4lb. Marc Halford’s filly made up into a consistent handicapper last season and, although she races off a career-high mark here, won in convincing style last time and may still be open to further improvement on her return to turf. She appears indifferent to underfoot conditions and, although she’s actually 1lb out of the handicap proper, she shouldn’t be unduly inconvenienced, especially with jockey Conor Hoban able to ride at 8st 4lb, as he did at Dundalk.

Selection: Curragh 3.35 Claregate Street to win 5/1

Sky Horse racing presenter Hayley Moore (daughter of trainer Gary Moore and brother of Ryan) certainly had an unexpectedly eventful week. She made news across the world and lit up social media with her heroic display in singlehandedly stopping a loose horse; three year old Give Em A Clump. The horse had unseated his rider Fran Berr just a furlong into the race at Chepstow.

By name and by nature Give Em A Clump certainly didn’t go easy on Hayley when she attempted to stop it in its tracks. For a while it looked like she might be hurt, but in actual fact it ended up being more like some kind of Indiana Jones move, and where others stood back, she had the horse by the reins in seconds.

Moore, previously an amateur rider herself commented “I just couldn’t bear the thought of him going round again, especially on quite a hot day. He had the blinkers on and I think he was panicking a little, he was running on adrenaline.

“I’m used to catching horses, but not quite like that!”

In the At The Races Supporting Mental Health Foundation Handicap (8.20) at Windsor on Monday evening, Trogon remains a maiden after ten starts, but remains unexposed over a mile on turf and could be worth chancing in a first-time visor. Mick Channon’s 3-year-old has been knocking on the door in similar grade handicaps on the all-weather this spring, but went closest to breaking his duck at Kempton earlier this month, when third of 10, beaten two necks, in a bunch finish behind Harbour Pilot in a 0-70 contest over a mile. In truth, he has looked rather one paced on both starts at, or around, a mile on turf, but the new headgear might just eke out a little more from him, which is really all he needs to open his account.

With the possible exception of the thrice-raced pair Harbour Approach – now, interestingly, trained by Daniel Mark Loughnane, also responsible for Harbour Pilot – and Port Of Call, who’s been gelded since last seen at Kempton in September, the opposition appears exposed as moderate, so it doesn’t require a leap of faith to envisage Trogon opening his account. Mick Channon’s overall record at Windsor leaves something to be desired but, for those in search of a positive statistic, jockey Charles Bishop has a 4-11 (36%) for the yard in the last 14 days.

Fellow maiden New Orleans could prove troublesome if improving, as seems likely, for the step up to an extended mile, in first-time blinkers, on just his second start on turf, but Trogon will do for me on this occasion.

Selection: Windsor 8.20 Trogon to win  5/1

We all enjoy a bit of horse humour. One liners like, “What’s a horse’s favourite TV show?” “Neighbours” often raise a chuckle. Or perhaps something with an element of silliness to it: “Which side of a horse has more hair?” “The outside”. Of course though betting on horses can be a serious business, where cold hard cash changes hands so with that in mind, a joke that tops them all would have to be “How do you make a small fortune out of horses?” “Start with a large fortune!” The tone of this strikes true for some gamblers who  chase losses to the ends of the earth! A ”I hope I break even today – I need the money” mindset. It can sometimes be hard to see the funny side of a bad bet, though on other occasions people have what we might class as the luck of the devil and/or a winning mindset!

Take Punter Fred Craggs for instance. He was never one for big horse racing bets, just a pound bet here or there. or taking advantage of the odd online free bet. In 2008 he placed a tiny 50 pence eight-horse accumulator bet featuring selections at three race meetings, both at home and abroad, namely Sandown, Wolverhampton and Dubai . To his surprise all 8 horses romped home, winning him a staggering 1 million pounds. There was no grand plan with his selections, in fact Fred often picked horses simply because he liked their names. It adds to the achievement then surely, that the very first winner trained by Jonjo O’Neill and ridden by Richie McGrath, was named “Isn’t That Lucky?” And the last you may ask, well that was called “A Dream Come True”. Quite the bet, and it almost seemed like it was written in the stars. The overall odds of this bet made it a 2,000,000/1 accumulator.

So what’s in a name I wonder, when you’re placing a bet on the horses? There was once a horse called called Lucky Strike, so following the above betting logic, I can think of worse ones to bet on! If you’re looking for funny or absurd horse names instead through, what better horse to go for than the now legendary Horsey McHorseface or what surely must be a commentators dream (or nightmare) , the horse named ARRRRRRR.