Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: Tom Collins looks to repeat last weekend’s three winners

All eyes will be on Sandown as the Jumps season comes to a close. It couldn’t come any quicker for me personally, but it’s always good to see a code go out on a high and that will certainly happen with El Fabiolo and Jonbon set to clash in the Grade 1 Celebration Chase.

Alongside the top-class racehorses on show, we will get the final outcome of the intense jockey and trainer titles. Harry Cobden has been the shining star in the saddle this year and it’s likely that he will get his reward on Saturday, while Willie Mullins seems to have earned enough of an advantage to become the champion in Great Britain as well as Ireland.

Probably unsurprising to most, I’m going to focus solely on the flat offering for my bets as I look to emulate the three winners in last Saturday's column. My best bet doesn’t run in the sexiest of races, a 0-60 sprint handicap (4.55 Leicester), but you don’t always need to look at the featured events to find a winner.

The horse in question is Ey Up Its Jazz, who definitely has the ability to compete in a higher grade than this. He’s so ground dependant - he needs it on the soft side - that he has only made 14 starts at the age of five, but his best performance came here in this race last year when he squelched his way through the mud to win off a mark of 50.

Ey Up Its Jazz backed that up with a victory off 3lb higher at Hamilton just 12 days later before having a mid-season break. He ran creditably in the second half of the campaign but only notched a couple of runners-up finishes at Beverley and Thirsk. 

Trainers Tony Coyle and Kaine Wood gave him the winter off, which was a wise decision as he’s never really taken to the all-weather, and brought him back on testing ground at Thirsk 18 days ago, where he ran nicely to finish fourth. 

With fitness on his side, soft ground in his favour, and the return to a suitable course and distance, I expect Ey Up Its Jazz to get the job done under Cam Hardie. McCauley’s Tavern is the only plausible danger, but he’s 0/12 on turf and isn’t the easiest to trust despite being well handicapped.

Over to Doncaster now for their evening card, and I’m particularly interested in the 1m4f fillies’ handicap (7.10) that has attracted just seven runners. I get that it’s early in the season, but there’s £20,000 up for grabs here so I was expecting a bigger turnout. Nevertheless, there’s some quality in the line-up.

Debut winner Shagpyle, German import Roxanne, and hat-trick-seeking Attila The Honey may attract support, as well as course-and-distance winner Divine Comedy. But the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Let Life Happen is one of my horses to follow this year and I’m looking forward to seeing how she gets on.

This daughter of Siyouni is a real late developer - she still looked raw on her first three outings last summer when she finished second on each occasion. It wasn’t a negative characteristic or trait that got her beaten, it was inexperience and poor positioning from her riders. 

Richard Kingscote got it right at Kempton when she was last seen and I loved how she drew clear late inside the final half a furlong. That race has worked out nicely with runner-up Cracksking (rated 84) winning since, something that both third-placed finisher Hampden Park (rated 90) and fourth home Trust House (rated 80) have also achieved.

The handicapper is allowing Let Life Happen run off just 84 and I’m sure that she will rack up a couple of victories this term, hopefully this will be one of them.

Finally, I want to keep Candonomore (1.38 Haydock) onside this year as he’s a big and scopey three-year-old with the ability to progress through the handicap ranks. Unfortunately for punting, he has been found a great spot to begin his campaign as there really isn’t much in the way of opposition.

Nevertheless, I’m happy to try and buy a few quid. This son of Almanzor wasn’t beaten far by the now 98-rated Loose Cannon on debut before travelling all over his rivals when third at Thirsk in September. The winner is now rated 93 while the runner-up is rated 82. 

A repeat of either of those displays should be good enough on figures, though I expect he has improved a good deal for his winter break given his size. He is proven on deep ground and the step up to a mile will suit based on pedigree.

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Candonomore (1.38 Haydock) @ 5/4
Ey Up Its Jazz (4.55 Leicester) @ 7/2
Let Life Happen (7.10 Doncaster) @ SP