Tipping Tim’s Weekend Bets
Published:I’ve just got through the most tedious week of the bookmaking year. Anyone who has read Germinal and has shed a tear at the plight of Etienne and Catherine as they are torn apart to spend twenty-three hours a day down a French mine with nothing but a stale sandwich and a broken candle wants to try spending a day compiling odds for a Cheltenham handicap. You have to plod through 150 horses, the vast majority of which will be balloted (and bets refunded), knowing that you will get slated by punters for looking tight and cursed by your bosses for being too generous on those that might actually run. At least Etienne had Catherine to flirt with; I have to do all this pointless grafting in a room full of middle-aged blokes in polo shirts. Fortunately I have Lingfield to cheer me up tomorrow and, if there is any justice in the world, I will be rewarded for my tireless hard work with three winners.
The nap this weekend has to be Lingfield legend Robin Hoods Bay in the track’s 3.30. Both my regular readers (same joke, different week!) will know that this old timer is one of my favourite Polytrack horses, and I always need a very good reason to oppose him here. Grandeur is undoubtedly the classiest beast on show but he has never run on this surface and he might need the run, so if he runs a few pounds below his best Ed Vaughan’s admirable old warrior might be able to steam through to pick up the pieces.
The next best tomorrow is Yeeoow in the 2.50 Lingfield. Karl Burke’s strong-travelling 5yo hasn’t run for a few months but he has a decent record fresh and the booking of Jim Crowley suggests that they mean business. A sharp seven furlongs should be bang on for him and, provided Lucky Jim gets the gaps from his tricky draw, he should go close at a decent price.
For the Trixie I will chuck in Tarooq in the 1.45. David Barron’s (relatively) recent acquisition is a formidable force at Lingfield and, having been granted a handy pitch in stall two, he should go close in this cracking heat.
Good luck with all your bets this weekend!
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