Horse Racing Tips: Starlust to clean up at Carlisle

There's superb racing to get stuck into on Saturday, with a good mix of Flat and National Hunt on offer across Britain and Ireland’s eight meetings.

Here are my horse racing tips for across the afternoon - including a Ralph Beckett-trained Grade 1 winner making his return in a Carlisle Listed contest.

14:33 Carlisle - Starlust @ 10/3

There aren’t many top level performers in this race and that makes it hard to look past Ralph Beckett’s STARLUST. We haven’t seen the five-year-old since June and although he’s likely to need the run, it’s plausible that he will have too much for his rivals in this Listed contest.

This son of Zoustar won a Group 3 over 6f as a two-year-old and was probably a touch disappointing for much of his three-year-old campaign, despite going on to win a Listed contest at York in July 2024.

The best was yet to come however and he was a respectable third in the Nunthorpe Stakes, eventually going on to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar at the end of the campaign. Fourth at Royal Ascot in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes when last spotted, he should be winning this comfortably.

14:48 Beverley - Matteo @ 7/4

It’ll be a surprise if many of the runners here go on to be competitive at Royal Ascot next month but Kevin Ryan’s MATTEO showed a significant amount of potential on debut and he looks well set to follow up in this £50,000 Class 2 event.

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The son of Coulsty cost €43,000 at the sales last year and his dam won over this trip as a two-year-old during her career. His half-brother also managed to win and there was a lot to like about Matteo’s performance when winning over course and distance on debut in April.

Pressing the leader in the early stages, he took the up the running with a couple of furlongs to go and kicked clear decisively to score by just shy of five-lengths. Stall one is the perfect draw here at Beverley over the minimum trip and a similar performance should be enough.

15:10 Carlisle - Estrange @ 8/11

David O’Meara’s ESTRANGE is clearly the one to beat in this race and she brings some excellent form to the table. The same cannot be said for her rivals and the five-year-old has finished second in Group 1 company in her last two starts.

She found only Minnie Hauk too good in the Yorkshire Oaks back in August and there’s no shame in that defeat, with the winner going on to finish second by a narrow margin in the Arc. Previous winner Kalpana came out on top in the British Champions Fillies & Mares after.

It’s worth noting that Estrange was a very impressive winner of this race last year and this year’s renewal looks even weaker. Perhaps she will need the run and some more juice in the ground would be preferred but, either way, she should be far too good for these rivals.

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