Friday Racing Tips: Three for All-Weather Championships Finals Day

Racing on Good Friday is dominated by the all-weather, with the All-Weather Championships at Newcastle taking centre stage.

All three of our fancies, which includes a talented and progressive Irish raider who has every chance of landing the £200,000 feature, come from the North East track.

15:35 Newcastle - Cover Up @ 9/2

This 6f handicap has a significant prize pot and it has attracted a competitive field of 15 runners as a result. There are lots of form lines to ponder but John & Thady Gosden’s COVER UP could be a class above the opposition here.

He’s still relatively lightly raced and the switch to artificial surfaces appears to have taken his form to a whole new level. Unbeaten in three starts on the all-weather, he’s progressing at a rate of knots of late and could be one for Listed or lesser Group races in the future.

It was a particularly impressive performance over a stiff 5f at Newcastle last time out. He overcame an awkward start to travel ominously into the race before putting it to bed very quickly. The official three-length winning distance doesn’t tell the full story either, as his jockey eased him down before the line.

A 13lb rise from the handicapper clearly isn’t insignificant but he’s a very talented horse and is lightly raced enough to suggest further improvement shouldn’t be ruled out.

16:10 Newcastle - Elegant Man @ 6/1

Irish raider ELEGANT MAN is certainly one to look out for at Newcastle on Friday as the thrice-raced colt should have plenty of improvement in the tank. There’s plenty to like about each of his three starts so far and he has already shown a high level of form.

Perhaps his best effort thus far was an excellent second to a 120-rated former Group 1 winner in a Listed race at Kempton on his penultimate start. A repeat of that effort could well be enough, despite the fact that his rating is high enough for a handicap.

He won without really breaking a sweat over an extended 1m2f at Dundalk last time out so we didn’t learn a great deal about him that day. It’s unsurprising that he’s so effective on the all-weather, as he has a proper dirt pedigree, and it’s highly unlikely that he’s reached his full potential as of yet.

16:40 Newcastle - Fast Raj @ 7/1

It’s not often we get French raiders outside of Group or Grade 1 races but the substantial prize money has gained the attention of Yann Barberot, who runs FAST RAJ here. The six-year-old son of Iffraaj has some excellent form to his name and should be capable of defying a hefty rating.

He’s had two starts in 2024 so far and finished second in a Listed race at Cagnes-Sur-Mer on the first of those. Getting back to winning ways in cosy fashion at Chantilly last time out, another big run could well be on the cards.

Barberot’s gelding has also won at Group 3 level as recently as July and probably deserves a high rating of 110. There’s a strong case to be made that he may even be a little better than that and connections won’t want to go home empty-handed.

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights