Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: Tom Collins has four selections across the cards

It’s surely time for some nice weather and fast horses, right? I know it’s the Scottish Grand National at Ayr this weekend, a meeting that has become way more interesting by the addition of Willie Mullins’ battalion, but it’s been a long and wet winter and I’m ready for a change.

As a result, I’m focussing on Newbury’s fantastic card for my two Saturday afternoon bets. Most punters will be drawn into the Greenham (2.40), which seems to lack some depth and star quality, and the ever-competitive Spring Cup (3.15). Low draws have been the right way to go in that race in recent years.

Despite giving those two featured contests a long and hard look, I’m more intrigued by two races later on the card. The first is the mile maiden (3.50 Newbury), which has attracted a huge field of 17 runners. There are a load of nice prospects in here, including Amphius (a full-brother to Sangarius and Greek Order) and 725,000gns purchase Clove Hitch, but I’m drawn to Economics.

This son of Night Of Thunder didn’t attract much support prior to his debut at Newmarket in the autumn, but he shaped with an infinite amount of promise. After breaking nicely from his low draw and leading his group, Economics became outpaced as his inexperience shone through in the middle part of the contest. It took him a while to respond to urgings, but he started to get the hang of his job inside the final furlong and was making significant inroads at the line.

It’s also worth noting that he spent the majority of his time away from the favoured stands’ side rail and it was only inside the final furlong and a half that he switched to the golden highway. 

That form is strong, too, with winner Zoum Zoum plundering a Listed race on his next start and likely to go off favourite in the aforementioned Greenham, runner-up Kikkuli striking at Newmarket earlier this week, and third-place finisher Balmaccara scoring on his reappearance at Doncaster.

The closing 1m2f handicap (5.00 Newbury) is also an enticing punting race with 19 runners and numerous places in the each-way market. I’d focus on the four-year-olds here, specifically Prince Maxi for Amo Racing and the in-form George Scott.

This unexposed type looks to be crying out for the switch to turf and a track like Newbury should suit him down to the ground. They tend to get racing pretty early in the homestraight here and that will play to his advantage given he seemed to lack the required acceleration to be super effective at Wolverhampton last time.

A mark of 84 seems pretty fair on what he has achieved so far and he has drawn well in stall four. I also love the booking of William Buick, who is 5/15 (33%) when riding for Amo Racing in his career.

I will be covering all the US action on Sky Sports Racing on Saturday evening, as well as the latter part of the card from Brighton. Two horses interest me at the Sussex venue, so it would be folly for me to leave them out of this column. Don’t worry if you don’t like low-grade fare, I will spin through them quickly.

Pat Cosgrave and Jim Boyle will team up with Chinthurst in the second division of the 1m2f handicap (6.45 Brighton). This four-year-old has run well on all three starts at this unique circuit, finishing second on each occasion, and is overdue a victory in this bottom grade.

He came back from a 169-day break with a highly promising fifth at Lingfield last month and will be staying on strongly against these inferior rivals. With fitness on his side and a jockey upgrade, I expect him to play a major role.

The other one of note is Uncle Dick, who is a bit of a course specialist with three wins from his four starts at Brighton. He has suffered bad trouble-in-running on his last two outings, especially last time at Wolverhampton where he may well have won, and should relish the return to his favourite venue in the closing mile handicap (7.50).

He’s now 3lb below his last winning mark, will love the cut underfoot, and should be winning if he doesn’t encounter more traffic problems.

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Economics (3.50 Newbury) @ 6/4
Prince Maxi (5.00 Newbury) @ 13/2
Chinthurst (6.45 Brighton) @ 4/1
Uncle Dick (7.50 Brighton) @ 5/2