Lucky 15 Tips: Does the Craven hold key to the Betfred 2000 Guineas?

Newmarket's Craven meeting concludes on Thursday, and we're taking advantage once again of ITV's LIVE coverage of the first four on the card, starting at 13:50, for our Lucky 15 tips.

Think of a top-flight UK  jockey and he or she is likely to be here today. A couple of Group contests headline the card, and the Craven itself might just throw up a 2000 Guineas prospect for here, or the Curragh. Should be a cracker.

Horse Racing odds

13:50 - Sovereign Spell @ 6/1

A wide-open three-year-old 6f handicap, with plenty of value to be had if you've got a firm view.

Our pick is Sovereign Spell, trained here at HQ by Kevin Philippart De Foy. The son of Invincible Spirit has one win from his five starts so far, achieved last time at Wolves 17 days ago.

In a maiden at this trip he made all and comfortably accounted for his eight rivals. It doesn't look to have been a strong contest but the selection put 5.5l between himself and his pursuers, and could harness that speed on this good ground to maximum effect this afternoon.

The horse runs in the colours of Amo Racing and Rowan Scott, who has been up top once before, a placed effort at Donny last backend, has the riding assignment.

14:25 - Crown Knott @ 2/1

The Wood Ditton is a prestigious maiden for unraced three-year-old juveniles, and Godolphin invariably loom large in contests of this nature at HQ. Messrs Appleby and Buick have already made hay this week and appear to have another fine opportunity with Crown Knott, a son of Lope De Vega out of an Invincible Spirit mare.

No fancy entries - yet - but certainly appeals as one of the more likely types. The Gosdens field a Frankel colt for the King & Queen, and also a Dubawi offspring running in the colours of Lady Bamford, so the race might just throw up a good one.

Fascinating stuff; and if so, let's hope it's Crown Knott.

15:00 - Aramram @ 11/2

G3 sprinters go 6f for a handsome first prize of £53k.

The selection Aramram is fresh from an emphatic career-best 19 days ago at Donny in a Listed affair at this trip. The five-year-old Blue Point entire prevailed going away, hinting at more to come, and is well worth his place in this slightly elevated company.

He's entered up in the big G2 dash at York's Dante meeting in a few weeks, and is in the care of Richard Hannon. The horse is six-from-23 all told, highly respectable given the ultra-competitive nature of sprinting, and it's possible that the division has found a good one to take higher rank as the season progresses.

Sean Levey, on board for that romp in South Yorkshire, is again in the plate. He's got a few pounds to find on official figures with some of his rivals but has run extremely well here before, and the timing of this might be just perfect.

15:35 - Hawk Mountain @ 5/2

Talking of official figures, our selection in the G3 Craven Stakes looks a bit of a shoo-in theoretically - famous last words - as Aidan O'Brien's Hawk Mountain is comfortably top-rated with at least a notional 4lb, and mainly a good deal more, in hand of his rivals.

Ryan Moore's mount is three-from-four, including taking the G1 Futurity at Donny last backend after which he was rugged-up and put away for these big spring tests.

He's available at around 16/1 for the Betfred 2000 Guineas, so quite where he fits in the classic picture right now will doubtless be confirmed after today's spin. Aidan has Puerto Rico and Gstaad slightly better-fancied for the big one at this point, though the latter still needs to be supplemented if wanting to run.

Godolphin's Hidden Force is likely to be the number one challenger in this, with Buick and Appleby once again in tandem, and though a small field (7) is scheduled to compete, a compelling battle is likely to unfold.

If all four of our selections won, today's notional 50p win Lucky 15, at the prices indicated (they can of course fluctuate), would return around £611 for a £7.50 total stake. If you can improve upon our selections (of course you can) - then go for it!

Lucky 15 tips with Betfred Insights.