It’s not just Friday, it’s Good Friday, and the horse racing action continues in the UK, so today’s column includes All-Weather Championships Finals Day Tips to consider.
The column landed another winner for the week thanks to Shakeyatailfeather in the penultimate contest at Cheltenham, so let’s hope the form continues with these two selections at Newcastle.
Roll on.
All-Weather Championships Finals Day Tips
1:50 Newcastle – Good Banter @ 10/1 with William Hill (4 places) – 1pt EW
There’s reason to believe that Good Banter will come on nicely for his first two runs in handicaps this year.
His first effort came at Lingfield in February where he finished sixth, but he raced very wide throughout and stayed on in the final few strides.
He was sent off the 11/4 favourite that day, and he even went off as the 11/8 favourite on his next start at Southwell over seven furlongs.
The three-year-old colt by Calyx ran a fine race, but he didn’t seem to stay the seven-furlong test, and Rossa Ryan wasn’t overly concerned when he knew the race was gone.
He’s been kindly dropped two pounds for those two runs, and one can imagine this has been a plan for a while considering he won two six-furlong novice events at Wolverhampton last season.
The latter of these efforts saw him beat The Quiet Gent and Don Pacifico, both of whom won on their next starts, when giving seven pounds away.
He’s had a nice 34-day period to come on for those first two runs of the season fitness-wise, so he’s the play here.
3:00 Newcastle – Popmaster @ 9/1 with Betfred (4 places) – 1pt EW
Popmaster has run some very solid races for a long time, and yet, he has dropped to a mark of 99, 11 months on from his peak rating of 109.
His last handicap win was longer ago than expected – July 2023 with an official rating of 91, to be specific – but it’s really hard to ignore his other performances without getting his head in front.
He won a Listed race at Newbury in September 2023, he was beaten a nose in the 2023 Howden Challenge Cup off 100, and he’s placed in two all-weather handicaps off 100 and 103 in recent months.
One of those all-weather runs occurred at Kempton over a mile when Roi De France, the current favourite for this race, beat him by a short head. There is now a nice 13lb swing in the weights between the two.
Speaking of weight swings, Popmaster gets a 13lb swing with Storm Star, the race’s second favourite, for just a one-and-a-half-length defeat over this course and distance in January.
Ed Walker’s seven-year-old stayed on through the line that day, even though he lacked a clear route through with two furlongs to go.
He looks like a well-treated horse who gets his best chance to beat the likes of Roi De France and Storm Star. Furthermore, Ed Walker and Paul Mulrennan have a 29% strike rate together (from 29 runners).
He’s worthy of some cash in this valuable contest.
