Sunday Racing Tips: Mahboob the one to watch at Newmarket

It's been a busy week on the racing front, but things slow down on a little Sunday with just four meetings taking place across the UK and Ireland.

Among our Sunday racing tips is one for John & Thady Gosden who could be absolutely anything and is of interest on handicap debut.

16:15 Newmarket - Berkshire Rocco @ 7/2

This is certainly an interesting staying handicap and there’s plenty to consider. Andrew Balding runs BERKSHIRE ROCCO here and the seven-year-old probably doesn’t win as many races as he should, but this is a good opportunity to rectify that.

It was a pretty underwhelming display here on seasonal debut last time out, but the handicapper has dropped him 1lb since and he’s entitled to improve for the run, as it was his first for 233 days.

Balding’s gelding is therefore expected to be a lot sharper this time around and we should see a much stronger finishing effort. The piece of form that stands out the most here is undoubtedly his fifth in the Ebor at York in August.

Only beaten by two-and-a-half lengths that day, he finds himself back on the same mark here and this is undoubtedly a much easier race. If reproducing a similar effort here, he’s more than capable of getting the job done.

16:45 Newmarket - Mahboob @ 7/4

John & Thady Gosden’s MAHBOOB is a fascinating runner on handicap debut here and he retains plenty of potential. An opening mark of 91 doesn’t seem too harsh on what we’ve seen so far and you would imagine if connections weren’t happy with it they would have found a Listed or conditions race for him.

Unbeaten in two starts thus far, he won by a neck on his debut at Lingfield and the second finished fourth in Listed company next time out. He probably won with more in hand than the official margin suggests and he had to overcome a sluggish start.

The son of Sea The Stars showed improvement when winning under a penalty at the same track next month and the winning distance was much more comfortable.

Whilst the form of that race probably doesn’t amount to much, he was a class above and it would be no surprise if he develops into a smart horse. He’s one to keep on side for the time being and the winning run can continue here.

17:15 Newmarket - Mubhijah @ 9/1

MUBHIJAH was a narrow second four times as a three-year-old and you could be forgiven for thinking she was doomed to be the bridesmaid.

She finally got off the mark in emphatic style at Carlisle in September and followed that up with a fair fourth on handicap debut at Musselburgh.

Ed Walker’s filly was not a fan of the soft ground at Doncaster on debut and the drop back to 6f also didn’t help. You can probably put a line through that effort with that in mind and the subsequent 2lb drop in the weights won’t go amiss.

This daughter of Shamardal should get back to winning ways sooner rather than later and this race provides a nice opportunity to do just that.