Horse Racing Tips on Thursday, July 21
It is a busy day of racing on Thursday, with seven meetings across Britain and Ireland. Our 4,007/1 Lucky 15 best bets come from the afternoon cards at Sandown and Yarmouth.
Han Solo Berger (1.15 Sandown)
This race might just turn out well for HAN SOLO BERGER, all of whose wins have been from June onwards in each calendar year.
Robert Cowell’s seven-year-old gained a first success for 20 months when winning at Yarmouth over the minimum trip last month. That was authoritative success gained from the front and also saw him in a first-time visor which has been retained since.
He stepped up to class 3 company at Newmarket on the July course, but could not follow up. However, he is back in class here and that run may have also come too soon after his victory just two weeks prior.
His mark of 75 is one he can win off and he is better when up with a decent gallop. Moreover, he has Frankie Dettori aboard, which is particularly eyecatching even aside from recent events and one can assume the Italian would not be overly interested in a no-hoper.
Badr (3.10 Yarmouth)
With only six runners in this maiden handicap, this might not take a great deal of winning. Sir Mark Prescott’s Omniscient will appeal to plenty up in trip to 1m2f here.
However, William Haggas has had five winners from his last ten runners, continuing the yard’s phenomenal form and there are enough reasons to believe BADR can step forward significantly. He has not been so inspiring this season, but a change of conditions can bring out more.
His fourth for Kevin Ryan at Wolverhampton last season looks very decent in retrospect and he was not beaten far on his stable debut at Chelmsford. His handicap debut did not go as planned at Bath, but his move up to this trip could well work. Plenty of his sire’s progeny stay this trip, while there are elements of hope on his dam’s side that he will possess enough stamina too.
The defeat at Bath last time was not due to emptying, so there have also been on course signs that more could be to come in this contest.
Light Up Our Stars (3.35 Sandown)
LIGHT UP OUR STARS can back up a recent success in this handicap, which looks plenty open enough on first viewing.
A son of Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle, the six-year-old joined Scott Dixon’s yard from Tony Carroll at the end of June, despite having racked up a hat-trick not long before the end of his tenure at Carroll’s. That did not stop his winning thread returning for Dixon though, as he scored by 2½ lengths at Epsom.
Dixon stepped him up to 1m2f on his first start for him and that proved to be a smart decision. He was in clear control by the line that day and is only up 5lb for that victory.
This is the highest he has been rated since December 2020, but he has not run a bad race all year. That level of performance does not look like dropping any time soon.
Wajd (4.20 Yarmouth)
Spangled Mac is on a fine run of form, but it looks like ending sooner rather than later. He is effectively 3lb wrong her under a 6lb penalty for his success five days ago.
The victory margin that day was just a neck at Haydock and would ordinarily have seen him up only 3lb. Even with 7lb claimer Conoor Planas in the saddle, he looks vulnerable here, though he has been used to being turned out regularly.
WAJD has been seen much more sparingly for Patrick Owens. Despite his being a small operation, he sent out six winners from 32 runners out season with a 19% strike rate. That has proven difficult to maintain this season, but he knows how to get one ready for an assignment.
Wajd is already a winner over course and distance, as she took a novice event last September. She was fifth of seven after wind surgery on her return from a 238-day break last month, but that should have freshened her up and she is down 3lb.