ITV Racing Tips: Two Additional Bets For Today's Action

The Scottish Grand National is of course the main attraction this Saturday, but there are some decent supporting races taking place at Ayr as well as what should be an informative card at Newbury. Billy Grimshaw has already previewed the big race, but has two additional bets here to complete his ITV Racing Tips...

14:00 Newbury - Greenham Stakes

Anyone that has followed flat racing for more than a few years knows not to be sucked into Aidan O'Brien's hyperbole about whichever three-year-old colt the lads have deemed will be that season's star stallion prospect, but even the most cynical observers of ALBERT EINSTEIN and the reputation given to him by his trainer will have been surprised just how badly he ran when beaten at odds-on on seasonal debut at the Curragh.

I am of the opinion that one of the best angles in racing is letting a horse off one bad run and, although it has shifted somewhat in recent campaigns, one does not have to stretch too far back in the memory archives to remember when everything sent out by Ballydoyle needed its first run of the season. Albert Einstein simply must be better than what he showed in the Gladness - and not just on the praise showered upon him by his trainer. This was blatantly a very high class two-year-old, as were a couple of the others in here, granted, and getting north of 2/1 about him when he is still thought of as the Ballydoyle Guineas first string looks more than fair to me.

He looked to not particularly handle the softer going at the Curragh and will run on good at Newbury on Saturday barring surprise showers on no weather forecasting site as I pen this piece, so forgiveness is the order of the day. One thing is for certain, Albert Einstein faces a make or break assignment here and I am backing him to pass the test with flying colours. His chief market rival is Zavateri, who looked out of the top drawer at two but is destined, in the opinion of this humble scribe at any rate, for a career as a sprinter. He also looked precocious enough at two and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't quite train on as expected now in his Classic year.

14:20 Ayr - Scottish Champion Hurdle

It could be pretty foolish to be taking on Tellherthename, given his trainer Dan Skelton has been mopping up handicaps with pretty obvious plot jobs throughout this title winning season, but the price of 5/2 left me cold and for all he has a favourite's chance, I'll be taking him on. He was held up last time out at Cheltenham in a race where the only horses involved were on the pace, and once it was noted he could not get involved he was not given a hard time. Given he is normally a frontrunner, it does not take Sherlock Holmes to work out that the County was never the day and this could very well be it. If he is sent to the front early by Harry Skelton we will know this is the day, but he'll have quite the rival for the lead in the shape of TUTTI QUANTI.

Regular readers of my musings (hi again, Mum) will know I am a serious Harry Cobden fan boy, particularly when he is on a front runner over fences. We get two out of three here for the Champion Hurdle no show and that'll do for me I do not think there'd be much between the top two in the betting was Tutti Quanti coming here off the back of his storming Newbury Handicap Hurdle win and so 9/2 represents excellent value. Indeed, some more cautious punters may even prefer an each-way bet here, but for my money he'll be backed win only.

His Newbury win may in the fullness of time be the pinnacle of his career, but what a pinnacle it was dismantling a competitive looking handicap from the front end. If he is in anything like the same form here, he will win it's as simple as that. The weight he has to give to the field is not ideal, but the rain certainly is as his career highlight of course came in the mud. There's no chance Ayr will get heavy by race time, but if soft is the prevailing ground condition I wouldn't want to be on anything else in this race. I also could put no one off backing him in any boosts they see about winning margins, given the relentlessness he showed on his penultimate start.