Alan Kelly’s Tips

Alan heads to Carlisle on Wednesday for his best bet

Updated: June 23, 2026 at 8:45 pm GMT+1

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Alan Kelly's Tips - Wednesday, 24 June

It's Carlisle Bell day at the Cumbrian racecourse on Wednesday afternoon, the oldest horserace still in existence. Despite the fact that the one mile handicap is only a Class 4 contest, it is always well supported, and rightly so.

All of the other four meetings scheduled to take place in Britain on Wednesday have been cancelled due to a rare red weather warning for extreme heat.


4:02pm Carlisle - Stimulative Trip (Each-Way)

With respective ratings of 100 and 99, Karl Burke’s Epsom Scurry Stakes winner Ellusive Butterfly and recent Musselburgh Listed third Golden Palace from the Richard & Peter Fahey stable will be fancied by many to fight out the finish of this valuable Eternal Stakes.

While William Haggas’s Albaydaa has in the region of a stone to find with those two horses based on a current mark of 86, I think Tom Marquand’s mount is much better than that and a big run from the Pinatubo filly would come as no surprise. However, on just her fourth career start, the vote goes to David Menuisier’s STIMULATIVE TRIP (Each-Way), a stable which has really hit form in the last couple of weeks, headed by the victory of Lost Boys in Royal Ascot’s Golden Gated Stakes on Saturday.

The daughter of Hello Youmzain won on her only start at two, a 7f novice stakes at Newbury during the summer. While only 9th in the Fred Darling Stakes on her reappearance, Stimulative Trip looked as if she would come on plenty for that first outing in 10 months. Beaten a little over three lengths when sixth behind Henri-Francois Graffard’s unbeaten Edaja in a Listed race at Chantilly last month, Paul Mulrennan’s mount should appreciate today’s better ground and furlong shorter trip.

Recommendation: Stimulative Trip (Each-Way) - 8/1 with bet365 (3 places)


4:35pm Carlisle - Altareq (Each-Way)

The joint top weights for this one mile handicap, Persuasion and Lexington Jet, have a rating of just 85, a lot less than you would expect for this historic contest which dates all the way back to 1599. With only 13lb covering all 17 contenders, I expect a much better effort from Jim Goldie’s ALTAREQ (Each-Way), the one horse in the race who has the potential to go on to much better things.

On his first start for Goldie since leaving the John & Thady Gosden stable in the spring, the Frankel gelding ran an absolute cracker when finishing an unlucky third in a hugely competitive handicap at York’s Dante meeting. A staying-on third in a slowly-run race at Hamilton on his next start, Altareq was strongly fancied for a valuable handicap at York two weeks ago, only to finish a disappointing 15th of the 16 runners.

After missing the break, before making headway on the unfavoured far rail, jockey Laura Young wasn’t hard on her mount when unable to mount a challenge. While the mount of Paul Mulrennan may be better over slightly further, Altareq is sure to appreciate today’s guaranteed decent pace, and with a better start on this occasion is expected to go close. An opening show of 6/1 with William Hill is more than fair.

Recommendation: Altareq (Each-Way) - 13/2 with bet365 (5 places)


5:05pm Carlisle - Wine Dark Sea (Nap)

On just his fifth start on turf and following a victory at Ascot on his reappearance last month, I think the Harry Charlton-trained WINE DARK SEA (Nap) has been let in lightly for this Cumberland Plate, the lightly-raced Ulysses gelding raised just 5lb for that success at the Berkshire racecourse, a race for which the form has worked out exceptionally well.

While the two length runner-up Bulletin has run well in defeat on his two subsequent outings, the third horse home, William Haggas’s Opportunity, has gone on to win his next two starts, most recently last week’s Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot.

With the fourth horse home Too Soon going on to win Epsom’s Northern Dancer Handicap on Derby Day (Bulletin third) and the fifth, Valedictory, winning at Ascot next time, Wine Dark Sea’s victory can be marked up considerably.

A promising neck second at Newmarket on his final outing of last season (the third Daiquiri Bay won last week’s Copper Horse at the royal meeting), the mount of Lewis Edmunds has the scope to end this season on a much higher mark than the gelding’s current rating of 83. With most of the selection’s rivals looking very exposed, it may be down to the bang-in-form Alpine Sierra to cause the Beckhampton House contender most problems.

Recommendation: Wine Dark Sea (Nap) - 3/1 with bet365


* Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.


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About Alan Kelly

A passionate follower of horse racing for over 50 years, Alan has enjoyed a 40-year career in the betting industry, 28 of which he spent running his betting shop as an owner/manager.

A successful punter with a keen eye for value, Alan has had many betting highlights, including a Scoop 6 win and has shown a consistent profit in the battle with bookmakers since joining Freebets.com in 2008.

You can follow Alan Kelly on X for more racing insight.


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Alan Kelly
Alan Kelly

A successful punter, with a keen eye for value, Alan has had many betting highlights down the years, including a Scoop 6 win and has shown a consistent profit in the battle with bookmakers since joining Free Bets.

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