Friday Racing Tips: Butler to serve up victory at Newbury

A busy and equally-fascinating day of racing awaits, with four meetings scheduled to take place across the UK and Ireland. First off is Lingfield at 13:30 before they go at Newbury - while the evening action comes from Dundalk and Newcastle, which stages the finale at 20:30.

Among our Friday racing tips is one for trainer Harry Derham who's progressing nicely and can win again before the handicapper catches up. 

14:25 Newbury - Swift Hawk @ 9/4

Look out for Paul Nicholls' Swift Hawk, who was a useful maiden on the flat at up to 1m4f, at Newbury today.

He came very close to getting off the mark when second by a head at Leicester for William Knight.

Quicker ground will be important to him in the long run, but he should just about get away with it in juvenile company.

The four-year-old made a good impression when getting off the mark in good style on his hurdling debut at Taunton at the back end of December.

He jumped nicely for an ex-Flat horse making his debut over timber and he’s entitled to improve.

Pulling away nicely in the closing stages, he showed a smart turn of foot to win by five lengths.

A 6lb penalty should be manageable for this promising sort and it’s highly unlikely that we’ve seen the best of him yet.

15:00 Newbury - Ioupy Collonges @ 2/1

Another one for Nicholls - Ioupy Collonges seeks a first victory over the larger obstacles.

The son of Kitkou began his career under rules by winning a bumper at Hereford back in 2022 and the form has been boosted by the third and fourth who have both won over hurdles since.

He was outpaced over an extended two miles on his debut over hurdles at Exeter when finishing second and went one better when upped in trip at Chepstow next time.

Also a winner in handicap company in April, there should be loads more to come from him.

It was a very below-par effort on chase debut at Chepstow when last seen, but he had a legitimate excuse, as he was found to have an irregular heartbeat.

Having been given plenty of time to get over that, he’s clearly capable of better and should thrive over fences in the long term. The best is yet to come and he should go close here with Harry Cobden on board.

16:45 Newbury - Young Butler @ 10/3

A course and distance winner last time out, that race was Young Butler’s first start for the Harry Derham yard, having switched from Emma Lavelle’s stable.

The son of Yeats showed plenty of potential early on in his hurdling career and managed to win a maiden and a novice before switching to handicaps.

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off a little bit but there were signs that he was getting back on track when third at Haydock in April.

That was confirmed when he returned to winning ways at Kempton on his final start for previous connections. It was an excellent performance when winning here in November in what was a very competitive race. He travelled eye-catchingly well and kept on strongly to pull away from Emitom and win by two lengths.

A rise of six pounds seems fair enough and he should run another huge race. It might be wise to keep the faith and he can strike again whilst confidence is high.

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights