Horse Racing Tips on Saturday, May 14
There are seven meetings spread across the UK on Saturday 14th May, with the action coming from Bangor, Chelmsford, Doncaster, Newbury, Newmarket, Thirsk and Uttoxeter. Our expert editor has produced their top tips across the cards, which make up the advised Saturday Lucky 15.
Eshaada (2.10 Newbury)
Trainer Roger Varian will be confident that lightly-raced Group 1 winner ESHAADA can improve once again this season as a four-year-old.
Despite the filly having just five starts to her name, she was certainly highly tried by connections last term, winning in Listed company on seasonal reappearance at Newbury before taking on Group 2 and Group 1 opponents on her following three starts.
After running a huge race in second at Royal Ascot in the Ribblesdale Stakes, Eshaada struggled to make an immediate impact on her first start at the highest level when finishing last at York in the Yorkshire Oaks.
However, the filly readily put that below-par effort on the Knavesmire firmly behind her and rounded off her season in some style, winning the Group 1 Fillies & Mares Stakes on Champions Day at Ascot after gamely fending off the challenge of Albaflora in the closing stages over a mile and a half.
Having only raced a handful of times, Eshaada should still have her best days ahead of her this season and the filly should be tough to beat back down in Group 3 company this weekend.
Eshaada (blue) can make a winning return as a four-year-old this weekend.
Huddle Up (2.55 Thirsk)
The one that catches the eye here is certainly HUDDLE UP who was a dual winner when trained in Ireland by Willie McCreery and has subsequently been transferred over the Irish Sea to join trainer David Barron.
A smart performer as a juvenile, he was a winner of a six-furlong Cork maiden on just his second career start and rounded off his two-year-old campaign with a creditable fourth in a Class 1 Nursery at Naas.
Only seen on the track three times last season, Huddle Up went down as an eye-catcher on the second of those starts when running on well from off the pace at Navan over six furlongs. Following that outing, connections entered him just three days later at Navan over the minimum trip and despite the extremely short turnaround, Huddle Up justified strong market support to prevail by a short head at the line.
A strongly run five-furlong contest should really play to the strengths of Huddle Up and with the yard currently enjoying a good run of form (4-15 – 27%), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see David Barron’s latest recruit go close on stable debut this Saturday.
Jockey Lewis Edmunds can partner Huddle up to success at Thirsk on Saturday afternoon.
Tinto (4.05 Thirsk)
Michael Dods’ County Durham yard continues to tick over nicely and they appear to have a well-handicapped runner in TINTO, who shaped with plenty of promise on his stable debut over course and distance and should strip markedly fitter following that recent effort.
Formerly trained by Amanda Perrett, Tinto was certainly kept busy during his five-year-old campaign, running a total of seventeen times with the majority of those starts coming in valuable handicap contests over six and seven furlongs.
Following his tough season last year, he made a pleasing start at Thirsk for Michael Dods following a 206-day break. Close up throughout, the six-year-old wasn’t subject to a hard ride on his seasonal return and despite finishing sixth, Tinto was beaten less than two lengths at the line by eventual winner Asadjumeirah – who went on to run well at York’s Dante Festival earlier this week.
Although winless since 2020, Tinto remains a very well handicapped individual off 87 and considering he was placed in Group 3 company only a couple of seasons ago, he should have too much class for his rivals this weekend if back to anywhere near his best.
Tinto (right) has some smart form to his name including when finishing third behind A’Ali and Liberty Beach.
Sip And Smile (6:35 Doncaster)
The return to Class 5 company at Doncaster should see SIP AND SMILE register his first win on the turf following an encouraging third at Ascot against Class 4 opposition earlier this month.
A dual winner over six furlongs earlier in the year, Sip And Smile was stepped up to a mile for the first time when last seen at Ascot. Travelling well towards the rear of the field on that occasion, George Boughey’s three-year-old soon made smooth headway inside the closing stages and stayed on well to finish third under jockey Hayley Turner.
The slight drop back to seven furlongs on Saturday shouldn’t pose a problem for Sip And Smile and with further improvement to come this season on the turf, the three-year-old should pick up plenty more races as he climbs the handicapping ranks this season.
Trainer George Boughey will be confident Sip And Smile can return to winning ways on Town Moor.