Saturday Horse Racing Tips: Palacio to strike at Ayr

Saturday is going to be busy on the racing front, with Ayr one of seven meetings taking place across the UK and Ireland.

All three of my Saturday horse racing tips come from north of the border, where the Scottish Grand National takes centre stage.

13:10 Ayr - Palacio @ 7/2

Sam Thomas’s PALACIO has taken well to fences this season and was a comfortable winner on his first start of the campaign at Chepstow in November. That form has worked out pretty well, as several of the beaten horses have come out and won since.

Palacio returned to winning ways with a comfortable success at Newbury last month and managed to do so despite jumping pretty poorly on the whole. Positive tactics suited, however, and he kicked clear to score by five lengths.

There’s scope for improvement in the jumping department and with that in mind, there could well be more to come in this Ayr opener, so a 6lb rise might not stop him.

14:20 Ayr - Tutti Quanti @ 10/3

Paul Nicholls’ TUTTI QUANTI has developed into a very smart hurdler this term and his development doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of slowing down.

He needed the run badly at Chepstow on seasonal debut but took a step forward to win a good race at Newbury by three lengths after that.

Producing a career-best performance next time, he absolutely bolted up at Newbury on his penultimate start. Conditions were pretty dire that day but he carved through the mud to score by 15 lengths, making almost all of the running.

You can put a line through his run in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, as he effectively refused at the start and had no chance after that. Provided that was a one off incident, he should be capable of running a massive race off top weight at Ayr, with Harry Cobden on board.

16:48 Ayr - Skerry Hill @ 3/1

Gordon Elliott has done well at Ayr this season, landing six winners from 13 runners at a strike-rate of 46 per cent. SKERRY HILL looks like a smart prospect in the finale, given the fact he won a 2m4f race on his sole point-to-point start at Farmaclaffey in February 2025.

The five-year-old made his debut under rules in a bumper at Down Royal back in October and saw the race out well to score with plenty in hand. He’s entitled to improve for that run and is probably the one to beat on form.

Click the link for the latest Horse Racing Odds