Friday’s horse racing tips: Best bets and odds for Ascot

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It’s back to Ascot for some Friday action and I’ve got four selections on betting sites from the Berkshire track bidding for a perfect start to the weekend.

Interesting to see one of these types of races as a Class 3 and it’s all the better for it. As ever, there are several with claims and some not so well placed compared to if this was a handicap.

I’m with COCKADE, who is a relatively rare runner in a ‘classified’ contest for the Gosden stable. However, he’s shown promise, improving from a reasonable debut effort at Kempton (1m, AW) to a decisive win at Windsor (1m, good to soft) on his second start.

He’s not been seen since being beaten at odds-on under a penalty on Newmarket’s July course (1m, good to firm) over three months ago, which was a slight backward step. He’s not far off the best of these already and as one of the less exposed runners, I’d be very surprised if he can’t improve some more and prove up to taking as race like this.

Ascot tip 1: Cockade – 1pt win @ 9/2 (bet365)

Named after the former training great, this Listed contest has drawn a competitive field of six, with INFRAAD, Galiyan and Galilean Quality looking to be the three to concentrate on.

Galiyan ran reasonably well at 40/1 to be fifth to Highwayman in the St Leger last time out. This is more realistic and he was a close second in a Newmarket Group 3 earlier in the season, so there’s a touch of class within.

Galilean Quality has two lengths to find with the selection on their running in the Melrose at York (1m6f, good to soft) and I loved the way that William Haggas’s winner went about it that day, racing prominently and showing true stamina in doing so.

That was his first try over this sort of trip and, while this is clearly a stiffer track than the Knavesmire, he was not stopping that day and I think there will be more to come this time. He’s unexposed and my idea of the winner on horse racing betting sites.

Ascot tip 2: Infraad – 2pts win @ 8/11 (William Hill)

A wide open look to this big field sprint handicap and the slide rule just comes down in favour of BADRI, who rarely runs a bad race and is well suited by the stiff 6f of this track.

He won at this track over 5f three years ago and has since shown a love for the even stiffer Pontefract circuit, scoring over their 6f a couple of times and once over 5f this season.

Those successes have obviously seen him climb in the handicap and trainer Michael Herrington has tried to place him in other races at times, including when he was a close third on heavy ground in the Beverley Bullet and last time out, when he went back there and was a close second in a conditions event.

He’s got both pace and the ability to see out a stiff 6f, which should stand him on good stead in this and while I accept he’s plenty high enough in the handicap, if he could run to the level of that Beverley effort he’d have decent claims here. He’s drawn in stall 10 and they’re likely to stay stands’ side, so he’s not too badly placed in that respect either. He looks a decent each-way play on betting apps.

Ascot tip 3: Badri – 1pt each-way @ 22/1 (bet365)

Another contest for the stayers and a relatively small field turns up for it, including last-time winners Just An Hour and CRANACHAN.

The former had little to spare from either the second or third when scoring at Ffos Las last time, ending a run of respectable efforts with that success, for which he has to shoulder a 5lb penalty here.

This is a first try over two miles for Rod Millman’s gelding and, while he looks capable of getting the trip and his best form was some three years ago. That’s not the case with Cranachan, who is unexposed after just six starts and is still on the up.

The concern with him is that he refused to enter the stalls at Chester last month, so he has a bit of ‘side’ to him but otherwise you’d have to think very positively of the Ralph Beckett-trained three-year-old, who is very much an improver.

The step up to this trip looked to suit him well when he scored by 6L at Chester (2m, good to soft) in August and, although the handicapper hasn’t missed that, he still looks well treated and is my idea of the winner.

Ascot tip 4: Cranachan – 2pts win @ 5/4 (bet365)

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