With the current cold spell expected to continue for the rest of the week, the all-weather cards at Wolverhampton and Kempton Park come to the fore on Thursday and we have horse racing tips for both fixtures.
“Tip of the Day” - Annaf (7.30pm Kempton) - Evens with William Hill
Following his impressive victory at Lingfield last week, Michael Appleby’s talented sprinter is fancied to follow up just five days later with a victory in the evening’s feature race.
4.15pm Wolverhampton, 5f - Iconicdaay (Each Way) (Longshot)
The Tony Carroll-trained Boom The Groom, a 107-rated sprinter at his peak in 2017, is, at the age of 12, getting no younger. But the mount of all-weather specialist Luke Morris ran his best race for some time when a narrow runner-up over today’s course and distance on Monday and a similar effort would see the veteran go close in this Class 6 contest.
Wee Fat Mike, Spanish Angel and Mintana are others with claims. But it could be worth taking a chance on David O’Meara’s lightly-rated filly ICONICDAAY (e.w.) on just her eighth career start and with talented 5lb claimer Mark Winn in the saddle.
The daughter of Adaay showed her first signs of form when third over today’s course and distance at the end of December, beaten two lengths behind Man On A Mission, who has since gone on to record a hat-trick of wins. Fellow rival Glorious Charmer finished a length and a half in front of the selection on that occasion but meets Iconicdaay on 4lb worse terms here.
While the filly could finish only sixth at Lingfield on Saturday, the return to this course could see a better effort from Iconicdaay who is capable of winning at this level off a mark of only 47, especially if his rider can take advantage of her draw in stall one.
6.30pm Kempton, 1m - Dembe (Next Best)
After winning four races on all-weather surfaces towards the beginning of last year, two at Lingfield, one at Wolverhampton and the other when opening his account on this course just short of a year ago, the Brett Johnson-trained DEMBE went on to record a couple of disappointing efforts before returning to action over today’s course and distance in November following a break of 170 days.
Sent off at odds of 66/1, the five-year-old was obviously thought in need of that run. But still looked more like his old self in finishing a promising third, one place behind fellow rival Aquaplano. The mount of jockey Harry Burns meets that horse on 7lb better terms (including his rider’s 3lb claim) for just over a length and having since gone down narrowly at Wolverhampton, Dembe can get back to winning ways at the main expense of Satin Snake who will be going for his third win on the course in just over a month.
7.30pm Kempton, 6f - Annaf (Nap)
Only six runners for the feature race on the card in which the Michael Appleby-trained ANNAF and Aramis Grey from the Rae Guest stable are fancied to fight out the finish. The latter has an excellent record on the track with form figures reading 1-2-1-2, including when narrowly beaten in the Unibet London Sprint Series Final in November. But preference is for last week’s impressive Lingfield scorer, Annaf, who had so much in hand inside the final stages of that 6f sprint handicap that jockey Rossa Ryan was able to ease his mount down close home.
The four-year-old is 3 from 7 on an artificial surface, along with some excellent efforts of Turf, including finishing a close fifth (beaten a length and a half) behind the 110-rated Manaccan in Ascot’s Listed Rous Stakes on his final start of 2022. The Muhaarar colt looks a sprinter to follow this year on both surfaces and connections can be rewarded for bringing the selection out again so quickly by taking this £25,000 conditions stakes.
* Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.
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