Talking Horses: Monday’s best bets plus the latest racing news

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/feb/09/talking-horses-best-bets-mondays-racing

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The Tony McCoy pre-retirement roadshow moves on to Catterick, where the regular attendance on a Monday in February of around 1,100 punters is likely to swell somewhat as McCoy makes what will probably be his final visit to the track.

He is not a regular visitor to the Yorkshire course in any case, having taken only 33 rides there in the past five years, but he has certainly rewarded the punters when he has made the effort. Those 33 rides have yielded no fewer than 14 winners, a strike rate of 44%, and his level-stake profit at Catterick in that time is nearly £16 to a £1 stake – McCoy’s best return at any track in the country.

It will remain so even if his two rides on Monday are losers, but both are likely to start as favourite and Red Devil Boys (nap 3.40) may be the one to back. John Ferguson’s string is in good form and Red Devil Boys looked ready for the step up to three miles at Wetherby last time out. He was brought down on his first start in a chase, and has more to offer over fences.

Cadore (3.10) is a value alternative to McCoy’s mount Dewala in the handicap hurdle, while Ballyvoque (2.10) is also a fair price on the same card. Knight Of Pleasure (3.50) has dropped to a fair mark and can give Gary and Joshua Moore a winner on the card at Plumpton, while Dana’s Present (nb 3.30) is the pick of the card at Wolverhampton. Tom Dascombe’s gelding has been progressing well, putting up a career-best performance to win over track and trip last time, and a 4lb rise in the weights should not be enough to stop his winning streak.

BoyleSports tipping competition – a new week

Congratulations to the hard-working Paragoncup, who held on to win last week’s competition on a final score of +10.63, despite a winnerless Friday. It helped that nobody picked Under The Phone (10-1) that day.

This week’s prize, kindly offered by those sporting fellas at Boylesports, is a £25 ante-post bet on a race of your choosing at the Cheltenham Festival (provided it’s one of the 15 on which Boylesports are taking bets just now). The bet must be placed by Saturday 21 February.

To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 3.10 Catterick, 3.40 Catterick, 4.20 Plumpton.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers.

In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.

For terms and conditions click here.

Good luck!

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And post your tips or racing-related comments below.