Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: James Tate might have an Iconic Moment

There’s competitive jumps action at Kelso on Saturday, which is made all the more interesting by an Emmet Mullins battalion that is looking to land big pots ahead of Cheltenham.

Perhaps the Irish trainer’s best chance comes in the featured Morebattle Hurdle (1.50) courtesy of smart Flat recruit McTigue, who steps down from Grade 2 company to face his elders before having a crack at one of the big-field handicaps down in the Cotswolds the week after next.

If you’re playing in that race you should be wary of McTigue given his connections, exploits on the level and a 10lb weight-for-age allowance. However, he’s been beaten a combined 111 lengths on his last two starts and I’m more tempted by the each-way claims of Benson. He needs to get to the front to be seen at his best and, given there’s other speed in the race, I’ll just watch as an interested neutral rather than place a bet.

It’s a different scenario over at Lingfield where two horses ridden by Rossa Ryan look worthy of a wager. The first is the David Evans-trained Mabre, who runs in the mile handicap (2.31).

This six-year-old has recorded four of his six victories on synthetic surfaces and, given he’s won off marks of 70 and 69 in his career, the handicapper is giving him a chance off just 61. Mabre also really caught the eye after a slow start last time at Southwell and is much better suited to this tighter track.

Add that to the fact that Ryan has struck at 19% on Evans trainees (+£20.20 to £1 level-stakes) over the last five years as well as the first-time fitting of blinkers, and this seems like it could be D-Day for Mabre.

Just 35 minutes later Ryan will take the ride on the unbeaten Iconic Moment in the Listed talkSPORT Spring Cup Stakes (3.06), and I think he has a phenomenal chance of taking home the £25,866 first prize.

Although there will be plenty of market support for Shouldvebeenaring and Alpha Capture, who finished first and second respectively in a tactical Southwell conditions event last time, it’s pretty conclusive that they aren’t Group performers. Perhaps Iconic Moment is?

This son of Harry Angel is bred to sprint and he’s really impressed me on both starts to date. He started slowly and showed signs of inexperience on his debut at Chelmsford, only to scythe through rivals inside the final two furlongs to win a shade cosily. Then he returned to the Essex venue and posted an even better performance under a penalty.

Iconic Moment quickened extremely takingly that day and was immediately targeted here, which is always an added bonus (you know he won’t lack sharpness). He has 7lb to find with the aforementioned Shouldvebeenaring on official figures, but there’s a high probability that he makes that jump forward here.

Finally, I’ll head over to the jumps for my final tip on Saturday, which is Forget The Way in the 2m½f handicap hurdle (4.00) at Newbury.

This race has notably cut up since the initial entry stage and I had to bin my original plan of advising an each-way bet on Alan King’s inexperienced conveyance. Perhaps this race comes a little too soon for him as he’s far from the finished product, but I was taken by his finishing effort last time at Southwell and it wouldn’t surprise me if he put up a much improved display.

He can reverse the form with the strong-travelling Dom Perry and, although Mateta and Poncho boast sexier profiles, it’s worth taking a shot on Forget The Way causing a shock. Put him in your tracker at the very least - he will be much better over 2m4f.

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Mabre (2.31 Lingfield) @ 14
Iconic Moment (3.06 Lingfield) @ 3.8
Forget The Way (4.00 Newbury) @ 9.2