Lucky 15 Tips: Family affair at Newbury on Thursday

Most roads lead in the direction of the World Cup right now but there's one happily weaving its way through Newbury tomorrow too, for an excellent six-race card kicking in at 14:20.

Oisin Murphy, Billy Loughnane, Hector Crouch, Tom Marquand - just some of the stellar names on show, and ideal territory for our Lucky 15 tips. Enjoy!

Horse Racing Odds

Newbury 14:55 - The Stone Power @ 15/2

A Class 5 one mile handicap, for three-year-olds.

The early market shape would indicate that this is a very wide-open heat. Definitely some value to be had then if you've got a view, and ours is that Ralph Beckett's The Stone Power could be the one to prevail.

He's a King Power-owned Kingman gelding and the dam, Queen Power, was in the same ownership and ran with plenty of distinction for Sir Michael Stoute a few years ago.

The selection has had three outings to date, achieving similar middling levels, and now makes his handicap debut off a mark of 72. Since the last of those runs, a close-up third of 12 at Kempton in January, he's been gelded (March), and that's often a trigger to unleash some improvement.

This will be a first turf outing but he's bred for it to suit very nicely and Kingman certainly didn't mind a bit of juice in the ground, which is thought likely on Thursday.

Offer a nice bit of value in my book.

Newbury 15:30 - I Still Have Faith @ 13/2

Ah, the mantra for all of us sports fans. We still believe ...

7f Class 3 handicap now, for older horses.

Our selection is a six-year-old Expert Eye gelding housed at Stuart Williams' Newmarket yard - I Still Have Faith. A respectable five-from-35 career record, and in good heart at present in the grade at both this trip and a mile.

I like it when we can envisage hitting the line strongly as the horse operates well at slightly further, and this fella's been on some fancy dancefloors in fairly recent outings including Newmarket, York, Ascot and Goodwood.

Didn't have the best of luck when last seen, at HQ in mid-May, when repeatedly denied a clear passage late in the piece. He runs off the same mark here, 85, and hopefully can get very competitive at a nice price.

Newbury 16:05 - Moving Force @ 13/2

6f Class 4 handicap sprint now, for older horses.

Our pick is Moving Force, a four-year-old Mehmas gelding trained by Mark Loughnane and ridden by his Classic-winning son Billy. Just one win in eight starts, and joined Mark from Richard Fahey in July last year.

Didn't run until May for new connections but on the second of two spins so far he really shone at Kempton in this grade and at the trip, failing by just a neck off a mark of 84.

He's up just a pound this afternoon and I like his chances.

Newbury 16:40 - Tarrant @ 3/1

A three-year-old filly now in the hands of Richard Hannon in Wiltshire, running in the famous silks of long-time owner Mrs Julie Wood.

Tarrant has had just two starts, showing terrific promise in both. Close-up third on debut at Newbury in April (2.25l), followed by a 1.5l defeat at Ascot 34 days ago stepping up to 10f. That looked to stretch her a little at this stage of her career, so today's 9f might just be spot on.

The Hannon yard have been prolific at this venue over the years and it's not hard to envisage her right at the heart of this at the business end.

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 £1,700 for a £7.50 total stake. If you can improve upon our selections (of course you can) - then go for it!