Haydock Park Tips: Haggas’ rising star can deliver on Friday

There's a seven-race card coming our way from Haydock Park on Friday and I've taken a good look at the runners and riders to provide you with my best bets for the day, with one of them being a star from William Haggas' yard.

Below you will find my Haydock Park Tips for Friday, July 18.

15:15 Haydock Park - Dark Side Thunder @ 13/8

My first pick of the day comes from this Class 5 handicap over 6f. There's a big field of 10 runners declared for this one and there are a few with claims. DARK SIDE THUNDER is the one who jumps out of me based on recent form.

The six-year-old gelding has spent his recent rides at Yarmouth with a breakthrough victory (6f) last time out in May, which was preceded by two third-place finishes over 6f and 7f. The son of Night Of Thunder and Dark Side Princess is a seven-time AW winner.

His last appearance there was tough as he was up against a resurgent rival. The field declared for Friday at Haydock does not look as strong, so he will probably have some room to manoeuvre off his current mark.

Ground conditions look to be similar to his recent trips at Yarmouth, which may play into his hands. Trainer Jessica Macey and connections should fancy his chances here.

17:00 Haydock Park - Headmaster @ 8/11

There will be a lot of keen eyes tuning in to see HEADMASTER on Friday in this Class 4 Stakes race. This one represents Haggas' yard and he is the first foal of their triple Group 1 winner One Master - so there is a lot of optimism for the three-year-old gelding.

He made his debut at Lingfield in May over 7 1/2f and gave a good account of himself as he placed second out of eight. Headmaster was also runner-up on his latest appearance at Windsor, which was a step up to 1m, in which he switched to front-running tactics. This was among a field of 11, so it was another impressive ride from this rising star.

Headmaster will step down in trip to 6f at Haydock and his form means he is going to be a strong contender. The ground is set to be good to soft, which would be a new experience for him, but I don't see it hampering him too much.

17:35 Haydock Park - Pearly Squirrel @ 7/2

I round off my selections for the day with PEARLY SQUIRREL, who is declared for this Class 5 handicap. Since switching trainers from Craig Lidster to Ivan Furtado in April, there has been steady progress made by this three-year-old filly.

The filly's three appearances for her new yard have all come at Doncaster. The first was a sixth-place finish out of 13 over 6f in April. This was followed by drastic improvements in May as she finished second out of 12 over 1m.

Pearly Squirrel then went one further in DN2 on her last outing earlier this month as she landed her first career victory. It was contested over 7f and featured a stacked field of 13.

She has 11 rivals to contend with on her first visit to Haydock but she arrives with strong claims. After proving her worth over 1m, she should have no issues with this 6f trip.

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