Another thrilling week of UK and Irish horse racing is headlined by Saturday’s schedule and there’s plenty for punters to pick through. There are meetings of note at Beverley, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Haydock, Leicester, Nottingham, Sandown, Bellewstown and Naas. Here are our top July 6 horse racing betting tips.
Bookmakers are betting on each race from the meetings listed, as well as a selection from tracks across the world, including South Africa, France, Canada, America, Dubai and Australia. The worldwide coverage means there’s always something to bet on, with any brief breaks in play filled by virtual racing.
Sandown the Main Attraction
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There are a few group races on the schedule, including the Group 3 Coral Charge, Group 1 Coral-Eclipse and Group 2 Lancashire Oaks. The standout of the day goes at Sandown where Coral sponsor a seven-race card that takes followers from 1.50pm through to 4.45pm.
The early going is described as good-good to firm in places and that’s just about perfect for the short distance sprints we have in store. The stands will be packed, the live TV cameras in place and we can enjoy some of the best racing the British summertime has to offer.
Coral Charge – 1.50pm Sandown
We open the show with this year’s renewal of the Coral Charge, a Group 3 sprint that will be decided over five furlongs. The antepost list included no less than 13 runners but that field will be whittled down at the declarations stages before we arrive at a final, more compact, list. With almost £40,000 in prize money paid to the winner it’s little surprise to see some of the best and brightest the sport has to offer throwing their hat into the ring.
Garrus was well respected during the antepost betting with traders across the board pinning that one to the head of their market. At the time of writing we found 888Sport to be the most generous online outfit, making an eye-catching 3/1 available to those who fancied an early stab at predicting the champion. That quote had him ahead of second-fav Sergei Prokofiev who was popular enough at 4/1 with the same firm.
The market leader is there on merit, having won four of his previous seven outings on the flat. The three-year-old colt arrives at track seeking what would be a stunning hat-trick after bagging glory at Nottingham at an SP 13/8 and, most recently, around York over 5f at a punter friendly 3/1. There’s confidence in the camp and backers are guaranteed a serious run for their money on Saturday.
Coral-Eclipse – 3.35pm Sandown
The Coral-Eclipse is a Group 1 race run over a distance of 1m 1f and offers a staggering £425,000 prize to the champion. It has a history that can be traced all the way back to 1886, with the modern version open to horses aged three years and above. The first running was won by Bendigo and the honours list since boasts a few instantly recognisable names.
The race stats show five horses are linked by two wins each in the chase to be the race’s leading runner. The names who have all completed a double are Orme 1892 and 1893, Buchan 1991 and 1920, Polyphontes 1924 and 1925, Mtoto 1987 and Halling 1995 and 1996. It should be some time yet before we see a runner complete the hattrick. Lester Piggott is the Eclipse’s leading jockey with no less than seven titles to his name, achieved between 1951 and 1977.
The leading trainer is a two-way tie between Alec Taylor and Sir Michael Stoute who both sit on six wins. We then find the leading owner tied between five names, including Godolphin who are responsible for Halling in 1995 and 1996, Daylami 1998, Refuse To Bend 2004 and, most recently, Hawkbill who took the bragging rights in 2016. That number is sure to rise in the near future as Godolphin go all out to confirm their dominance of the Coral-Eclipse.
Lion Roared Last Year
Last year’s race was won by Roaring Lion for Oisin Murphy and John Gosden and he was the third three-year-old in four years to wear the crown. That would suggest keeping the younger runners close would be a sound strategy this year. Gosden has also given us two winners in the last four years, with Roaring Lion joined by 2015 champion Golden Horn.
The antepost market had Enable as favourite to win this year’s renewal and that is a strong stance from the money men as they have 4/5 available, suggesting anything other than an Enable victory would be a massive shock. The mare doesn’t do much to impress in the trends as a five-year-old, but she arrives in stunning form, having won seven of her previous eight runs, ending third in the spare.
Enable was last seen winning at Churchill Downs in the Breeders Cup Turf last November. That was her fifth win in-a-row at an odds-on SP and it’s, therefore, little surprise to see her short in the betting again for her return to the UK. Traders are in no mood to oppose one of the best sprint horses in the business, having had their fingers burnt many times in the past, and that’s the reason they are playing their cards so close to their chest here. If you do want to back Enable in the Coral-Eclipse the advice is to go big as a single or add her to your weekend accumulators.
Our Tip: Enable to win Coral-Eclipse at 4/5 with William Hill
