Horse Racing Tips: Empire can rule at Down Royal on Saturday

It’s a big day's racing across Britain and Ireland on Saturday with a total of six meetings, Ascot and Wetherby the principal cards with some strong supporting action from Ayr, Newmarket, Down Royal and a twilight fixture from Newcastle. 

Among our Saturday horse racing tips is one for trainer David Pipe, who shaped well on his seasonal return at Chepstow recently.

13:35 Down Royal - Arch Empire @ 9/1

Gordon Elliott’s ARCH EMPIRE has won only one of his nine starts over hurdles, but he’s been running well on the main this season and travelled like the winner over 2m4f at Cheltenham last time, only for his stamina to run out from the last. 

He’s back to his optimum trip on this occasion and makes plenty of appeal off a mark of 126, having run to a Racing Post Ratings of 127, 125 and 123 already this season. 

Elliott has an excellent recent record in this race, winning three of the last four runnings.

15:45 Ascot - Neon Moon @ 8/1

The David Pipe-trained NEON MOON missed an intended engagement at Chepstow last month on account of unsuitable ground, but he ought to have conditions in his favour at Ascot on Saturday and he’ll have every chance of bettering his third in this race from 12 months ago.

The nine-year-old is a three-time winner over fences, all of those successes coming at this distance, and he’s extremely consistent, regularly running to Racing Post Ratings in the high 120s and 130s. 

He’s now 2lb below his last win (October 2024) and 6lb lower than when finishing third behind Chianti Classic here 12 months ago, so has obvious claims. 

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