Horse Racing Tips: Saratoga to strike Gold at Thirsk on Friday

Another busy Friday awaits with seven meetings taking place across the UK and Ireland. Thirsk is the first to get underway and is swiftly followed by Musselburgh and Brighton. The evening features fixtures from Tipperary, Wexford, Newmarket and Haydock.

Included in my horse racing tips for Friday is one for trainer Kevin Frost who looks well set for a long overdue return to the winners’ enclosure.

15:50 Musselburgh - Gressington @ 2/1

Edward Bethell runs GRESSINGTON in this fascinating 7f handicap and the three-year-old is very lightly raced, especially in handicap company. He got off the mark on debut in a Southwell novice back in September and it was a smooth performance, going on to score by just shy of two lengths.

Bethell’s gelding then came within a neck of following up under a penalty at Redcar and the winner of that race now has a rating of 90. With the exception of one below-par effort at Haydock in June, most of his handicap runs had shown promise.

He displayed a good attitude to achieve a first handicap success over an extended 7f at Beverley when last seen and there was a bit of a gap between the front two and the rest that day. A 3lb rise could underestimate him on that evidence and he should go close again.

Today's Horse Races

16:10 Thirsk - Saratoga Gold @ 10/1

It’s been a while since Kevin Frost’s SARATOGA GOLD has managed to get his head in front and he’s winless in four starts for current connections. That could be set to change on Friday, however, as he has dropped down to a very appealing mark of 80.

His most recent effort was a marked improvement on his three previous starts this season. He kept on well enough to finish fourth and if you take the four-length winner out of it, he wouldn’t have been far away at all.

Bearing that in mind, it’s eye-catching that the handicapper has decided to drop him 2lb for that run. It’s unlikely that there will be one as unexposed as the winner at Ascot last time and he should therefore be right in the mix off this mark.

His last victory came by seven lengths at Kempton in July 2023 and he was on a mark of 89 that day. Frost’s gelding is clearly capable of winning at this sort of level and it may only be a matter of time until he proves it again.

20:16 Newmarket - Ajdayet @ 17/2

Most horses are suited by the switch to handicaps and Archie Watson’s ADJAYET seems likely to fit those criteria. This horse is clearly learning on the job and he looked very green at Doncaster on debut and is likely to improve with each run from this point on.

Being by Ten Sovereigns, his pedigree wouldn’t immediately jump out at you as a potential middle-distance type. That being said, his dam is a Galileo mare who ran over 1m2f and 1m4f so it’s not out of the question if he takes after her.

Watson’s three-year-old was fifth again in a novice here over a mile last time out and should be building on that effort. An opening mark of 77 doesn’t appear to be a ridiculous one and there could be an amount of improvement to come on handicap debut here.

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