5.30pm Yarmouth (Race 1)
The first race of the 2024 Racing League is as competitive as ever, and that really does make for some good viewing as well as each-way punting. The Racing League might not be for everyone, but I personally really like the idea and it is a good idea on how to adapt and maybe bring in some new eyes/fans to the sport. Love it or loathe it, there is one thing we can all agree on, and that is how competitive the racing can be.
With that in mind I will be siding with Ludo's Landing in the opening contest for Charlie Johnston and Joe Fanning, who has been in very consistent form of late. He was a two-length winner at Beverley three runs ago, and he won that race going away, so the obvious natural step was to go up in trip, which he has done in his last two runs.
Both of those runs were not winning efforts, but earned two very good runner-up spots in competitive class 4 contests. He does have a 3lb raise in the weights to overcome after that second effort at Kempton last time, which could catch him out, but he was once rated around the 81 mark and performed well at that level, so this new mark of 79 should pose no issues for this lad.
He is as tough as they come, a typical Johnston horse, so if he can get an easy lead at the front end then they might struggle to get past him. He does have a fair bit of weight to carry here, but is the older horse so does have plenty of experience to boot.
- Selection - Ludo's Landing (6/1 Each Way)
6.30pm Yarmouth (Race 3)
This is a very competitive contest over a mile, with quite a few of these arriving into this race off the back of some decent runs recently, and I am going to side Beylerbeyi, who hails from an in-form team of Ian Williams and Jack Mitchell. He is a very strong traveller who landed a hat-trick of wins last month, with two wins at Doncaster and the other at Wolverhampton. He started that winning thread off the mark of 62, before going up to the career high of 76.
That winning streak was unfortunately ended last time when running in a class 4 handicap at Chelmsford, and although he was beaten in the end he still managed to run on in the closing stages and claim third spot, and ultimately the dog track like Chelmsford might have caught him out that day. Yarmouth’s stiffer galloping track could bring even more improvement out of him, and given the fact he has been in good form at Doncaster recently, this transition should pose no threats for the in-form Ian Williams runner.
His last few runs have impressed, and he is clearly thriving at present, so with everything in his favour here on Thursday he might be able to jump back on the winning trend in this ultra-competitive contest.
- Selection - Beylerbeyi (9/1 Each Way)
7.00pm Yarmouth (Race 4)
Saffie Osborne has become a real star of the Racing League, and she will look to get off to a cracking start once again here, with Pedro Valentino one of her best chances of the meeting.
The Clive Cox string has been in pretty decent form of late, and one of those in-form horses is Pedro Valentino here who has the form figures of 3512 this season, with the victory coming at Haydock in a class 4 contest, beating the field by a little over a length and a quarter.
Before that he was a decent third on his seasonal debut, before going on to be a dead heat 5th in a very competitive 19-runner handicap at Newmarket, where Pedro was only beaten by three lengths, before going on to win at Haydock and then come a pretty decent second in another competitive handicap at Ascot.
Running off a career-high mark of 82, and even though he was beaten off a 3lb lower mark last time, I feel he was beaten by a horse that was plotted for that contest, as he was eventually sent off the 3/1 market leader, so there was plenty of support for that winner that day.
In another competitive field here, over seven furlongs on good-to-firm ground, I feel these conditions will more than suit and he is the one to beat for me. Saffie absolutely loves this competition, and she will be more than up for week one at Yarmouth here on Thursday.
- Selection - Pedro Valentino (5/1 Win)
All previews and tips provided by @ Jake Russell