Horse Racing Tips: Lion to roar to Newbury win on Friday
Two weeks today will see the Cheltenham Gold Cup take centre stage, and it's set to be an absolute thrilling renewal on March 18, but we focus our attentions on Friday's racing, and there are five meetings taking place in the UK & Ireland. The action begins at Lingfield Park at 13:00 with a seven-race all-weather card, while the alternative action this afternoon comes from Newbury and Doncaster over jumps. There's a brace of fixtures this evening on the all-weather with Dundalk and Newcastle concluding Friday's racing. With such a busy schedule today we shall attempt to try and point you in the right direction of a few winners, and we have a plethora of tips from a multitude of racing writers, so make sure you check out some of the best bets on offer today.
Alan King's Coeur De Lion was last seen finishing a gallant runner-up at Newbury in mid-February, and the Barbury Castle inmate will attempt to go one better this afternoon and off a 1lb higher mark lines up in the 16:05 contest on Friday afternoon. The nine-year-old has proven extremely popular among our tipsters this afternoon as a staggering nine of them have put King's charge up as their nap of the day, and with 4/1 available from the bookmakers then it could be a solid option to follow at the Berkshire venue.
Current naps table leader Farringdon, who has a profit of £57.71 heads to Doncaster for the nap of the day, and is siding with Joke Dancer, who lines up in the 15:40. Sue Smith's nine-year-old was last seen finishing third at Wetherby, and has been dropped 1lb for that effort, so off a mark of 123 today then he could strike gold at the Town Moor racecourse. Just behind Farringdon in the naps table is Steve Mullington (£45.94) and he also heads to Doncaster for his best bet and is backing the 7/1 chance Tanarpino, who lines up in the 14:00 event.
The Sunday Express tipster has been in terrific form this week duly notching up a trio of winning naps on the bounce, and they will attempt to make it four on the bounce on Friday and head to Newcastle's evening card for their best bet. The red-hot tipster has put up the John Quinn-trained Foreshadow, who is a 13/2 chance for the 17:45 at Newcastle, and the Quinn raider is looking to break his maiden tag in what is a mediocre handicap. Last seen finishing sixth at Southwell off a mark of 56, the three-year-old will line up off 53, so if he can improve on his sixth start then he could prove to be a player.
Some of the tipsters will be attempting to land big-priced winning naps on Friday ahead of a busy weekend and the biggest priced nap is Vive Le Roi, who is 16/1 chance for the 16:05 at Newbury. The selection of Ben Morgan from Racing Ahead, who sits fourth in the naps table, will hope the Tony Carroll-trained 11-year-old can make the most of carrying bottom weight and cause a shock.
Other double-figured priced naps across today's racing include the Kim Bailey-trained Imperial Icon, who is a 14/1 chance for the 17:20 at Doncaster, the Paul Nicholls-trained Barbados Buck's, who is also a 14/1 shot for the 16:05 at Doncaster, with the final 14/1 nap coming from Dundalk as Rory Paddock has put up Chateau Master in the 18:30 event.