Charlie McCann’s Horse Racing Tips For Thursday, 30 April
Horse racing tips for Punchestown, Redcar & Yarmouth
It's a busy Thursday of racing action in the UK and Ireland, and Charlie McCann is here with his exclusive free horse racing tips - only at FreeBets.com.
4:50pm Punchestown - Release The Beast & McLaurey
My two against the field in the 2m handicap chase are RELEASE THE BEAST and McLAUREY, and have backed both, who ran well when last seen at the Cheltenham Festival.
Release The Beast finished fourth in the Grand Annual, and trainer Paul Nolan takes off a valuable 5lbs by putting up talented 5lbs claimer Eoin Staples. A winner of just one of his seven chase starts, he will relish the ground and has good form in big fields.
McLaurey travelled very well for a long time in the 2m4f+ Plate last month and gives the impression he will appreciate dropping back down in distance. He was carried right off the home turn when holding every chance but finished tamely. The form has been franked by the 1-2 Madara and Will The Wise, who finished third and first respectively in the Topham earlier in the month.
Emmet Mullins has decided to fit cheekpieces to his seven-year-old, who, in an ideal world, would appreciate softer ground, but he ran well at Cheltenham, and he should have the race run to suit with plenty of confirmed pace in the race.
Recommendations: Release The Beast - 8/1 with Coral & McLaurey - 7/1 with bet365
6:05pm Punchestown - Bob Olinger
My two against the field in the Grade 1 Champion Stayers' Hurdle are six-year-old Kawaboomga and the 11-year-old BOB OLINGER, and preference is for the latter, who lost his Stayers' Hurdle crown at Cheltenham last month, but didn't get the best of runs and should have finished a bit closer to the winner, Home By The Lee.
That form has been franked by the Aintree success of the winner, where Honesty Policy again suggested that three miles stretches his stamina. Jockey Mark Walsh deserts him this afternoon in favour of Kawaboomga, who looked ready for a step up to this trip when second, staying on very well, over 2m4f in a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse over Easter.
The evergreen Bob Olinger was well-held by Teahupoo – another former Stayers' Hurdle winner – at Leopardstown over Christmas, but that was the selection's seasonal reappearance, and this will be just his third start of the campaign. He should be fresher than most. He has never won at this meeting previously but, surprisingly, has only run once, although he has scored at the track, albeit over fences, back in January 2022!
Teahupoo heads the market and will be blinkered for the first time by Gordon Elliot after a laboured showing at Cheltenham. He has won this corresponding race for the last two years, and he is bidding to follow the Willie Mullins-trained Klassical Dream, who won the race from 2021-23 inclusive.
For a horse whose connections insist is best fresh, he has a good record here, having come on from Cheltenham for both those course and distance successes. I just favour Bob Olinger, who has beaten Teahupoo twice in their last three meetings, but is a much bigger price.
Recommendation: Bob Olinger - 11/4 with bet365
5:02pm Redcar - King Of Berkshire
I narrowed the 10f handicap at Yarmouth last week down to KING OF BERKSHIRE (11/2) and Room Fourteen (11/4) and, as is our current run, went with the former, who went down by a short head to the latter with the third a further three-and-a-half-lengths away.
P J McDonald takes over for Andrew Balding this afternoon, and he has been raised 6lbs from the weekend, although he can race from a 1lb lower mark than Yarmouth this afternoon. I thought both three-year-olds looked worth following, and note the selection has also been entered to Goodwood on Friday. This is being written before the declarations are announced, but you get the impression connections want to take advantage of what they perceive as a lenient mark.
He will likely go off a short-priced favourite, but I have missed winning recommendations in recent weeks because I have felt selections would go off at prohibitive odds when that has not been the case.
Recommendation: King Of Berkshire - 4/6 with bet365
5:30pm Yarmouth - Del Corso (Nap)
Armstrong has finished second in his last couple of starts but was beaten a long-looking 4l at Bath last time on soft ground. The return to a quicker surface will suit, and he can race from the same mark today.
The vote goes to the Ed Walker-trained DEL CORSO (Nap), who did not have the best of trip when third at Nottingham last time and the hope is that this straight mile is more suitable, although he has been nudged up 3lbs for that half-length defeat earlier in the month.
I like the booking of James Doyle – who rode Naga expertly to victory for us on Saturday night – for the lightly raced son of Dubawi, who I think will get ten furlongs going forward. I would not want the race to develop into a sprint – selection is out of a 10f winner in France – and the hope is that Doyle takes the bull by the horns if there is no early pace in the race.
Okiru has led in the past – at a steady gallop – but there is no guaranteed pace, and the hope is that Doyle goes forward, given Del Corso is bred to get the mile and more very well.
Recommendation: Del Corso - 5/2 with bet365 (Nap)
*Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.
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