Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: Agaila set for Winter Oaks success

The cancellation of Ascot’s Clarence House Chase meeting has left us lacking quality jumps action once again, albeit Haydock may pass its precautionary inspection on Saturday morning.

Even if that is the case, a number of small-field events on bottomless ground fails to interest me. Fortunately, there is some cracking all-weather racing at Lingfield to get stuck into - and I’m not just saying that because I love the flat!

The feature is the £100,000 Winter Oaks (2.47), a 1m2f fillies’ handicap that provides the perfect opportunity for lower-rated horses to have a pop at a big prize pot. This is just the second edition of this race, which is part of the Winter Million series at the track, and there is a nice make-up to this contest.

There are two front-runners in the field - The Flying Ginger and At A Pinch. The latter, who is fit from a spell over hurdles, almost certainly looks to have been put into this race by trainer Harry Eustace to ensure an end-to-end gallop for stable companion Makinmedoit, who has to be considered a leading player.

A daughter of Derby winner Golden Horn, Makinmedoit has posted back-to-back career-best performances over this course and distance and has been undoubtedly targeted at this race. Her penultimate victory was more impressive to the eye than the race comments may suggest given she scooted around the inside and quickened nicely to secure her third success. Similar tactics were employed last time, but she was briefly stopped in her run and couldn’t get going until too late. Saying that, she wouldn’t have won even if everything went right.

Makinmedoit was beaten two-and-a-half lengths by the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Al Agaila, an imposing and lightly raced four-year-old filly who travelled powerfully before asserting in the straight without any encouragement from Luke Morris. It’s a cliche, but she was a steering job for her experienced rider.

Al Agaila has really come into her own this winter and, although she is now 10lb worse off with Makinmedoit, I’m of the opinion that she remains pretty well handicapped. The aforementioned end-to-end gallop will be ideal given she likes to stalk the pace and possesses a high cruising speed, while the booking of James Doyle, who has ridden her to victory before, is a big positive.

If you’re looking for a bigger-priced selection on the card, look no further than the Roger Teal-trained Marion’s Boy. A double-figure price for the 1m2f handicap (1.37) at the time of writing, this six-year-old is being underestimated in the market due to his rank draw in stall 12.

Obviously being situated right on the outside when the first bend comes pretty quickly is never ideal, but he’s a hold-up performer and Teal has booked one of the sharpest riders in the game in David Probert, so I’m pretty confident he will slot into a workable position early on.

Marion’s Boy had an extremely prolific winter last season with three victories, three places and a fifth. One of those places came in this very race, when he finished a close-up second off a 4lb higher mark. I’d be surprised if returning here wasn’t part of the plan from some way out and he’s evidently treated to go very close. 

Providing Probert negotiates the first bend without going three or four wide, Marion’s Boy should have an excellent chance of running down the leaders inside the final half a furlong. I would consider anything above 8/1 as value.

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Marion’s Boy (1.37 Lingfield) @ 16
Al Agaila (2.47 Lingfield) @ 2.4