Newmarket Tips: Tom Collins has three selections for Tuesday's card

Now we can officially cut the tape and announce that the Flat season is back! Newmarket’s Craven meeting is the first big midweek fixture of the year and tipster Tom Collins has three tips to go to war with on Tuesday.

1.50 Newmarket, 6f Weatherbys Bloodstock Pro Handicap

Racing against a rail on the undulating and expansive Rowley Mile at Newmarket is always a bonus and winners on this day last year broke from stalls: 6, 5, 3, 1, 5, 4 respectively. The low draw bias might continue with the stalls positioned in the centre of the track and, although I respect Bergerac and Dancinginthewoods, their high gates are a slight worry.

The slow-starting Strike Red is drawn one and Ostilio, who has been held up over longer trips recently, has been allocated gate two. Perhaps Phil McEntee’s runner will be ridden differently with Silvestre de Sousa booked, but it seems a bit of a reach to assume Ostilio will lead those low based on his recent running style.

That may pave the way for Gale Force Maya to negotiate her way over to the rail from stall three - worst case scenario is that she will be one off the fence - and that tactical positioning should enable her to go close on her seasonal reappearance under Connor Beasley.

Michael Dods’ six-year-old sprinter has form figures of 11324 after layoffs of 80 days or longer and developed into a very useful conveyance last year with three victories and a third-placed finish in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon.

She ended her season with two runs over this course and distance, which resulted in a handicap victory and a runner-up finish in Listed company - her best efforts all year according to figures. If she picks up where she left off, she can strike again off a mark of 98.

Selection: Gale Force Maya @ 6/1

3.35 Newmarket, 7f Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes

This year’s Nell Gwyn is a two-horse race according to the handicapper. Cachet, who is rated 109, and Hello You, rated 108, supposedly boast a considerable talent advantage over their rivals and should fight out the finish between them. However, I don’t think it is that simple.

Although Cachet and Hello You, who both ran creditably when last seen in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in November, they aren’t guaranteed to translate their form from two to three and there might be a better place angle in the field. There is little juice in their price and I’m happy enough to let either of them win unbacked as a result. 

The joker in the pack might be Rishes Baar, who has almost a stone to find with her aforementioned rivals on figures, but remains thoroughly unexposed after just three outings and should develop into a talented performer for the Ontoawinner syndicate this term.

After making a winning debut at Haydock in September, connections quickly backed her up in the Group 3 Firth Of Clyde Stakes at Ayr and she never really got rolling until the final furlong. She seemed much better suited to this 7f trip in the Oh So Sharp on good to soft ground here at the end of the year and ran better than the result suggested.

Rishes Baar was badly squeezed by the eventual first and second entering the final furlong and would have hit the frame had she found a clear passage. The big positive to take out of that race was how she handled the Rowley Mile - the undulations didn’t faze her. Freshened up after a long winter, Rishes Baar could trouble the market protagonists.

Selection: Rishes Baar @ 13/1

4.45 Newmarket, 1m2f handicap

This 0-95 handicap has proved a reliable guide for finding future talents with subsequent Group 1 winners Main Sequence (2012) and Old Persian (2018) taking the spoils in recent years, along with Solid Stone (2019 and Mohaafeth (2021), both of whom won at Group 3 level later in the season.

I am optimistic that this year’s edition will work out similarly well and, in Educator, William Haggas might have a Group horse on his hands. The homebred son of Deep Impact, whose progeny include Saxon Warrior and Snowfall among a plethora of Japanese talents, looked all at sea on debut at Newbury last summer but learned plenty on the job and was unlucky to go down fighting at Goodwood next time out.

He got racing with front-runner Sea King, who went on to break his maiden two starts later, pretty early in the homestraight and paid for those exertions late when an efficiently-ridden rival surged past. 

Cieren Fallon made no such mistakes on Educator’s final outing at two as he drew clear with a sharp rival over a mile to win at Haydock and gave the young rider an ‘excellent feel’ in the process. The step up to 1m2f should suit given his pedigree and he’s sure to have matured plenty over the winter. He’s my nap of the day.

Selection: Educator @ 11/4

Recommended bets:

Gale Force Maya (1.50 Newmarket) @ 6/1
Rishes Baar (3.35 Newmarket) @ 13/1
Educator (4.45 Newmarket) @ 11/4