UK Horse Racing Tips

The first Classic, the 2,000 Guineas, is less than two weeks away and, while 68 horses stood their ground at the latest declaration stage, against a maximum field size of 25, now could be the time for bold ante post punters to take the plunge. The Master of Ballydoyle, Aidan O’Brien, holds his usual strong hand, with Gustav Klimt and Saxon Warrior, to name but two, while impressive Craven Stakes winner Masar, trained by Charlie Appleby and Elaqarm, trained by Mark Johnston, are both well to the fore in the ante post betting market.

In fact, at the time of writing, it’s 16/1 bar four, which brings in Expert Eye and Roaring Lion, beaten favourites in the Greenham Stakes and the Craven Stakes, respectively, so there appears to be a little room for manoeuvre each-way punters prepared to speculate at potentially lucrative odds.

Notwithstanding the defeat of Roaring Lion in the Craven Stakes, John Gosden is operating at a strike rate of 10-31 (32%) in the last 14 days and it’s one of his three other 2,000 Guineas entries, Kings Shield, that takes the eye at 66/1. He’s by Scat Daddy, better known as a sire of sprinters, including Lady Aurelia and Caravaggio, but out of a mare by the superbly bred Miesque’s Son, so he has plenty of stamina in the bottom half of his pedigree. Indeed, he’s already proved himself over a mile with a decisive win in a small conditions race at Kempton in early April. Exactly what that form amounts to is anybody’s guess, but having won both starts with a minimum of fuss, Kings Shield falls into the proverbial “could be anything” category and looks worth a small interest.

Selection: Newmarket 3.20 Kings Shield each-way (66/1 with William Hill and elsewhere)

Middleham trainer Mark Johnston holds a very strong hand in the Landwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes (3.35) at Newmarket on Wednesday and, although Threading is officially rated 3lb superior to stable companion Nyaleti, the latter was only beaten a head in the Group 2 Shadwell Rockfel Stakes over course and distance when last tried over 7 furlongs. The daughter of Arch made a satisfactory, if unspectacular, reappearance when sixth of 10, beaten 4¼ lengths, behind Gronkowski, in the Listed 32Red Burradon Stakes, over a mile, at Newcastle last month but, back on rain-softened turf with a furlong less to travel, she may be capable of resuming winning ways.

She’s more exposed than most of her rivals, but can reasonably be expected to continue to improve throughout her three-year-old campaign and doesn’t have much to find with the best of these in any case. Her two heaviest defeats as a juvenile both came at the highest level, including once over a mile, so it would be folly to underestimate her in this company.

Selection: Newmarket 3.35 Nyaleti to win

The late Greville Starkey, who died from cancer at his home near Newmarket in 2010, rode 1,989 winners on the Flat in an illustrious career lasting 33 years. In fact, Starkey is considered, by many, the most talented horseman never to be crowned champion jockey. However, despite his successes, which included five British Classics and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, he is still best remembered for failing to win the Derby on Dancing Brave in 1986.

Having won the Craven Stakes and the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, Dancing Brave started hot favourite for the Epsom Classic but, despite making relentless progress from the rear of the field throughout the final half a mile, failed by an ever-diminishing half a length to overhaul Shahrastani, ridden by the late Walter Swinburn. Starkey was roundly criticised for setting Dancing Brave an impossible task, but Swinburn said, “It’s a fine line. Had he got up by a head or a neck then all those who came out and tried to hang him for his ride would have been shouting his name from the rooftops.” Starkey made amends for his Epsom display by steering Dancing Brave to a comfortable victory in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, but protracted criticism for his earlier failure was to over shadow the rest of his career.

Starkey rode his first winner, Russian Gold, at Pontefract in 1956 and became champion apprentice the following year. He was later retained by John Oxley and Henry Cecil, before becoming stable jockey to Guy Harwood at Pulborough, West Sussex. In 1978, he rode four Classic winners, Shirley Heights in the Derby and Irish Derby and Fair Salina in the Oaks and Irish Oaks.

Getting involved in horse racing is quite intense, and it’s even harder to bet on at a first glance. One of the main issues that newcomers find is the terminology – something that can be hard to grasp with approaching any new sport – which is admittedly difficult to understand in the first attempt but can be worth getting to grips with when realising how exciting and entertaining betting on your own horse racing tips can be.

These given terms for different types of horse racing bet and market can be met with blurred lines over what it all means but Oddschanger are a website that take the time out to help novices in gathering a greater understanding of the entire sport in every possible aspect. They offer additional help with their array of previews, recommended bets and horse racing tips researched and provided by them in a specially designed section of their site.

What are NAPs?

It sometimes gets confused with other markets and far more complicated means of betting, but NAPs are actually the most easily understandable concept in horse racing. A NAP is the term given to a tipster’s most favoured horse racing in a given day, with them presumably seeing it as being the most likely one to win ahead of all others.

Most main horse racing tips websites provide their own NAP on a daily basis, even sometimes referring to them as a ‘NAP of the day page’, where you can expect to see which horse they favour on a given racing day. The odds are almost always extremely slim, with them often going lower than 1/2, but it’s a rite of passage, especially if the tipped horse wins as predicted.

Why are NAPs such an important part of horserace betting?

As previously mentioned, the fact that some horse racing tips sites offer practically daily NAPs for their followers is surely enough to show just how highly regarded they are by such a large portion of the sport’s fans. It’s gradually become a staple in horse racing betting, where even if there’s very little action for the day, there’ll always tend to be a NAP.

The word NAP comes from a French card game called ‘Napoleon’, where the best hand is self-titled before being abbreviated down to ‘NAP’. It obviously gains its correlation of being the most desirable hand in the card game, as well as being the most desirable horse to back in terms of horse racing.