ITV Racing Tips: A Couple Of Picks From Ascot & Haydock

An all too familiar feeling accompanies penning a preview of Saturday's ITV racing, with the threat of abandonments at both Haydock and Wincanton should they fail their morning inspections looming large. Hopefully all meetings can go ahead, even on heavy ground, and Billy Grimshaw has a couple of picks he likes across the cards...

15:00 Ascot - Swindley Handicap Chase

There are a few short priced favourites in small field graded races at Haydock and Ascot before this race, but I am not particularly keen to be taking the prohibitive odds on offer given ground conditions. I do like Alexei, even at odds-on, in the Kingwell at Wincanton, but have made that case elsewhere so this handicap hurdle is where the ITV tipping kicks off. With the good folks at BOYLE Sports offering 5/1, I make my pick in this contest my NAP of the weekend.

JIPCOT is the horse for money in this race as I pen this piece on Friday afternoon and given he was as big as 7/1, it's clear to see why. Jonjo & AJ O'Neill's charge put in a career best and, most importantly, looked like he was doing it on the bridle almost at Leicester last time out when an all the way winner, in the end scoring by 10 lengths. Leicester can be a funny track to try and take the form literally from, but I was a touch dazzled by the way this lad attacked his fences and despite an eight pound rise in the weights, I'm confident we are nowhere near his ceiling.

Keelan Woods keeps the ride after that impressive sit in the MIdlands and I am of the opinion that if this horse can match the effort he put in at Leicester, he'll win this race. There are dangers aplenty, notably Joyeux Machin who was running a big race in the Great Yorkshire before tipping up in front - albeit there was plenty of the race left to run. Because of that mishap he's remained on the same mark and he rates the chief threat, while I wouldn't totally discount the old warrior Sam Brown now back at his beloved Ascot. He may be approaching legal age to buy a pint, but he still has some enthusiasm for jumping and could be dangerous off this mark and with a talented 7lbs claimer aiding his quest.

15:15 Haydock - Grand National Trial

Were a stranger to have approached me and offered 4/1 for this race about Myretown in the aftermath of his bloodless Ultima win in 2025, I'd have snapped their hand off. That day in March he jumped flawlessly and powered away from what, at face value as a Cheltenham handicap, looked a high class field. He was being quoted for the Gold Cup this season and those musings did not seem too fanciful. This season, however, nothing has gone right for the horse and his trainer Lucinda Russell and I could not have him on my radar for this race, even off what is a stupendously tempting looking handicap mark.

That's the favourite kiboshed then, which is always a good place to start when previewing this sort of race. Apologies to the layers as I am sure he is now bound to bolt in by upwards of five lengths! A Cheltenham handicap from the previous season is where my eye is drawn, namely to the horse who ran a screamer for second behind subsequent Gold Cup hero and unodubtedly one of the biggest handicap certainties ever in Inothewayurthinkin, GIT MAKER for Jamie Snowden.

This is a horse I have kept onside since that day, to limited avail, as I was so certain that running to within four lengths of Gavin Cromwell's certainty that day marked this lad out as a star himself. Since March 2024, he has been sighted six times without success but now at the age of 10 off a mark of just 129, he finally gets a staying chase on soft ground to run in again. This looks a race tailormade for him and after finishing fourth last season when the ground was against him and off a higher mark that day too, he is a brilliant bet at double figures to at the bare minimum hit the frame. Jamie Snowden is also in much better form this season so here's hoping for a big run and some profit.