Horse Racing Tips: Darwin to land back-to-back successes

Flat racing dominates proceedings on Monday, as all five of the fixtures taking place across Britain and Ireland take place on the level. Royal Ascot took place last week and, although the racing isn't going to be of that standard, it should make up for it in competitiveness.

Musselburgh gets us underway in the afternoon and Catterick follows swiftly after, before they race at Windsor and Brighton in the evening, with Ballinrobe providing the Irish action. We have three strong fancies to follow across the day and among them is a Clive Cox charge who has a real chance in the Windsor showpiece.

Horse Racing Odds

16:45 Musselburgh - Port Darwin @ 5/2

Charlie Johnston's Ancient Egypt ran a cracker to finish second to Causeway in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and his runner PORT DARWIN can go one better here, albeit in a much lower grade. Recent form suggests he's probably the one to beat.

Unbeaten at Musselburgh, he won his sole start at the track last summer, landing a weak race over a mile by just shy of a length. There have been some decent efforts since, but he failed to win any of his next eight starts, before returning to winning ways recently.

The intermediate 1m1f trip seemed to suit and he ran on well to score by two-and-a-quarter lengths. It's definitely worth noting that he avoids a penalty for that success and he should therefore be going very close off the same mark here, despite the quick turnaround.

19:17 Windsor - Bassenthwaite @ 11/1

Windsor's race of the day is a competitive-looking Class 3 sprint handicap over 5f and Clive Cox is represented by the sole three-year-old in the field, BASSENTHWAITE. He is therefore the only recipient of the 6lb allowance, which could be a massive advantage.

The son of Ardad got off the mark when taking a big step forward on his third start at Ffos Las in July and he managed to get the better of a subsequent Listed winner on that occasion. Switching to handicaps after that, he won impressively at Wolverhampton.

Hector Crouch was very positive that day and the pair kicked four-and-a-quarter lengths clear at the line. The extra furlong didn't suit at Newcastle last time out and he can be forgiven for that performance. Rossa Ryan has been booked for the ride and improvement is expected.

19:50 Windsor - Edwin Hubble @ 5/2

Brian Meehan has had a pretty lean season so far on turf, but one of his two wins came here at Windsor, which gives him a 25 per cent course strike-rate for the current campaign. He runs the unexposed EDWIN HUBBLE here, who should be getting off the mark soon.

There's a lot to like about his pedigree and the son of Space Blues is a half-brother to Kalapour, who won the Group 1 Tancred Stakes over 1m4f in Australia. With that in mind, it's likely that the step up to an extended 1m3f is very likely to suit the three-year-old.

He looked badly in need of the run on seasonal and handicap debut at Sandown last time out and it's noted that he drops into Class 5 company here. The handicapper has also dropped him a couple of pounds since and that won't do his chances any harm.

NAPS Table with Betfred Insights.