Friday’s Racing tips: Best bets and odds for Haydock Park

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An open looking first division of this one mile contest and I think there could still be more to come from C&D winner MONOCEROS.

Iain Jardine’s charge is 2-9 so far and despite a lesser effort on heavy ground at Hamilton last time, his win here on his penultimate outing suggests he may still be well treated.

Perhaps he couldn’t quite handle bottomless ground as well as he had soft the time before, when he defied a mark of 81 and looked as though there may be a bit more up his sleeve.

He went up 3lb for that but I am not sure it was the handicapper who beat him north of the border. The ‘soft’ description here may suit better.

Billy Loughnane is booked for the job and his only ride on this three-year-old resulted in a debut win at Newmarket last year, which is not a bad thing to have on our side.

Empirestateofmind could be the main danger but I’m in with a small stakes play on the selection and if you can get an each-way price about him on betting sites then I wouldn’t put you off taking out a bit of insurance.

Friday’s betting tip 1: Monoceros (Haydock, 14.17) – 1pt win @ 5/1 (Bet365)

Another division of this contest where several can have cases made but most also have questions to answer. That applies to the selection RETURN TO UNIT, who has been very much on an upward curve before missing the break at Hamilton last time (1m1f, good) and never showing.

Prior to that he’d won both a Nottingham maiden (1m½f, good) and returned to that C&D to record a handicap success off a mark of 80.

An 8lb rise prior to Hamilton would have asked some questions but the trainer’s representative suggested that missing the break was the reason for his lack of involvement.

Strictly on that second Nottingham win, he’s still well treated here despite that rise in the handicap, so if he can get off to an even break, we know he handles soft ground and removing the blinkers this time might also work out as another positive.

His latest effort may mean that we get a better price about him on racing betting sites than would otherwise have been the case and he looks worth sticking with.

Friday’s betting tip 2: Return To Unit (Haydock, 14.52) – 1pt win @ 12/1 (Bet365)

Not a great nursery and the usual mix of runners who have already got a good degree of experience, plus a couple of newcomers to this sphere.

With respect to the likes of Koodini, Resemblance and Crazy Cubana, I’d like to make a case for BAARBERINI, who is one of those nursery newcomers and was, in fact, a beaten favourite on his most recent outing.

However, he did show a decent degree of promise when third on debut in a Kempton novice event (7f, AW) in June and next time out when third at Southwell (1m, AW), despite being turned over at odds-on in the latter.

He’s a free-going colt and I think trainer James Horton has got it right by dropping him back to 7f for the moment, while he is still keen and until he shows he can settle. I think that was his main issue when recently tried over further.

He has yet to race on slow ground and so he has to tick that box but both his sire and won on it, so there’s more than just hope that he can act and I think he’s likely to be a backable price on betting apps now that he’s been turned over a couple of times.

Friday’s betting tip 3: Baaberini (Haydock, 15.27) – 1pt win @ 6/1 (Bet365)

The Dixon boys, Chris and Martin, appear to have another decent sort as part of their Horse Watchers syndicates in the form of CITY CAPTAIN, who I think looks capable of another good showing and has the ability to win this.

Harriet Bethell trains the four-year-old, who she’s kept in good form throughout the summer, including two wins at Hamilton over 6f and, more recently, 5f, both on slow ground.

He didn’t have much room to spare when scoring last time and he’s up 3lb for that Scottish success but a repeat of either of his last two efforts should see him go very close to winning once again.

He’s unexposed over the minimum trip and we know he gets 7f, so testing ground will help to bring his stamina more into play and might just help to blunt the speed of his opponents.

Friday’s betting tip 4: City Captain (Haydock, 16.37) – 1pt win @ 3/1 (Bet365)

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