Haydock Park Tips: Balding star set to be crowned

There are eight UK and Irish race meetings on offer across Friday but it is the action at Haydock Park that catches my eye, with another six-race card in store.

Below you can check out my Haydock Park Tips.

17:30 Haydock Park - U Turn @ 10/3

The first race of the day looks interesting. A Class 4 nursery handicap over 5f which has a small field of just five runners. I must admit I was torn for this one as there were two strong contenders in my opinion, with Richard Fahey's Cotai Belle being one of them.

But it is U TURN who has my favour on his first visit to Haydock. This two-year-old has shown good progress in recent months with back-to-back second-place finishes at Musselburgh and York.

The latter was his most recent outing with a trip of 6f. The bay colt pulled clear the winner, Carnation Queen, in the final stretch and narrowly lost out by a head. Trainer Tim Easterby may be feeling that this will be his time to shine.

18:05 Haydock Park - Kingmaker @ 6/4

In the following race, there are seven runners set to contest this Class 5 handicap over 1m 3f. Three-year-old KINGMAKER is another who is making his Haydock debut on Friday, and I think he could be set for a strong run.

Andrew Balding saddles this one and he will be pleased with how things have been going recently. Kingmaker has improved upon his step up to middle distances and posted consecutive second-place finishes in handicaps at Windsor and Newbury ahead of his appearance in WA12.

He has been slowly moving up the weights and the conditions are looking optimal for him here, so a first-ever career victory might be on the cards.

EXTRA PLACE RACE - Betfred are offering three places instead of two on the 18:05 at Haydock Park

18:40 Haydock Park - Romantic Spirit @ 7/2

ROMANTIC SPIRIT completes a hat-trick of my selections who are making their debut at Haydock on Friday. The three-year-old has impressed in recent months with three victories in her last four outings, all of which were at Wolverhampton over 1m 1f.

An extra furlong awaits the filly at Haydock in a wide field of 11 runners. She has already demonstrated her ability for improvement in handicaps this year and this will be most pleasing to trainer David Menuisier and connections.

Romantic Spirit heads to WA12 with a 3lb rise and her chances are favourable. In this stacked contest, she stands out more than most.

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