After all the overseas excitement of the Breeders’ Cup and the Melbourne Cup , we’re glad to get back to some high-class domestic National Hunt action with our ITV racing tips for Friday. With Exeter currently out of service due to firm ground, Aintree takes over the prestigious Haldon Gold Cup fixture , while Hexham provides a strong supporting card for armchair punters.
Here are our best bets across both of those meetings:
13:50 Aintree Tip
13:50 AINTREE – LYSSENKO @ 5/4
The fact that this five-year-old French import has been thrown straight into handicap company suggests that Dan Skelton believes the €210,000 purchase will go well . Unbeaten in three hurdles across the Channel , the gelding was increasingly impressive in stretching his winning margins and hitting the line strongly.
The stable have not had him that long but he has been bought for influential connections who are unlikely to have been sold a dud.
14:25 Aintree Tip
14:25 AINTREE – ROYAL INFANTRY @ 6/4
Only three are scheduled to go to post in the £40,000 novices’ chase but it still promises to be an interesting contest between a trio of smart types. Newton Abbot scorer Intosomethinggood and Worcester runner-up Klimt Madrik made encouraging debuts over fences, but Royal Infantry is preferred if he can build even slightly on a visually impressive reappearance effort at Hexham.
While it is true that win also came in a three-runner race and the chasing recruit was not extended to prevail at 4/11, there was a soundness in his jumping technique that suggested racing over bigger obstacles has been his calling all along.
14:45 Hexham Tip
14:45 HEXHAM – KOOL RAOUL @ 15/8
The top Scottish training team of Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore have been in fine form of late , with this unexposed six-year-old one of several nice scorers for the yard after making all to land a convincing success over the same course and distance towards the end of last month.
15:00 Aintree Tip
15:00 AINTREE – MIRABAD (NAP) @ 5/4
Moving the Haldon Gold Cup Handicap Chase from Exeter to Merseyside has altered the test quite significantly given the differences in those tracks, but one horse who will not mind the switch is Skelton’s gelding . It is fair to say that the seven-year-old would not have minded had it been held in Devon, given he has winning form at Exeter, but there are not many in the field who can boast their best previous effort was here at Aintree .
If Mirabad is able to repeat anything close to his six-and-a-half-length win from Salvator Mundi in a Grade One novice chase at the Grand National meeting last April , form which saw his handicap mark leap into the mid-150s, he will be hard to beat . Adding to the appeal is that this race will be run on his favoured quick ground around a sharpish, flat, left-handed track and he was a promising three-quarters of a length second behind Fighting Fifth-bound Wilful in a warm-up race over hurdles at Carlisle 15 days ago.
Betting Tips
Friday ITV Racing Betting Tips
13:50 Aintree - Lyssenko @ 5/4
14:25 Aintree - Royal Infantry @ 6/4
14:45 Hexham - Kool Raoul @ 15/8
Simply click/tap on the above betting tips to add to your betslip.
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