Horse Racing Tips: Wimbledon Hawkeye looks like a Craven ace

It’s a superb day under both codes on Wednesday, with top-class action coming thick-and-fast live on ITV4.

First off is Cheltenham before they go at Beverley, Newmarket, Gowran Park and Ffos Las. Among our horse racing tips for Wednesday is one for trainer James Owen in the big race at Newmarket, having been an impressive winner at the track last season.

13:50 Newmarket - The Dragon King @ 13/2

The opener at Newmarket is wide open and it’s worth giving a chance to course-and-distance winner THE DRAGON KING, who is ridden by Ryan Moore.

That is a big plus for The Dragon King because he needed plenty of encouragement from the saddle before finishing strongly to land a valuable sales event here in October. He was behind and under pressure from a long way out but powered through to be strong at the line.

He will need another strongly run race here to be seen at his best over the same 6f trip, but that looks likely given there are 14 runners declared and the selection has been gelded since his last start. That might help him to concentrate and travel better through the early stages.

Further improvement will be needed to defy a mark 8lb higher than when he was last seen in a handicap, but trainer Clive Cox does well with sprinters like this and there is more to come.

This is an Extra Place Race, meaning that Betfred will be paying 4 Places (1/5 Odds) instead of 3. T&Cs Apply.

15:00 Newmarket - Romantic Style @ 11/10

Charlie Appleby and William Buick often dominate the Rowley Mile and they have a great record at this April fixture too. They can be trusted to get the job done with hot favourite ROMANTIC STYLE, who loves testing ground and should have conditions in her favour.

Romantic Style ran away with a Listed race over course and distance on heavy ground in November 2023 and had tough tasks when beaten in Group 1s in the middle of last season.

She has returned to form in Dubai this year and comes into this race following an impressive victory at Meydan in January. She bolted up by two and a half lengths in Listed company that day and looked right back to her best, taking her form figures over this trip to 7111.

Romantic Style has loads more to offer as a sprinter and returns to a track that evidently suits, with ground conditions in her favour. It will take a smart performance to beat her.

This is an Extra Place Race, meaning that Betfred will be paying 3 Places (1/5 Odds) instead of 2. T&Cs Apply.

15:35 Newmarket - Wimbledon Hawkeye @ 11/4

There weren’t many more impressive performances at Newmarket last season than WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE produced when landing the Royal Lodge over course and distance in September and the James Owen-trained three-year-old is a big fancy back at this track.

Wimbledon Hawkeye cruised through that Group 2 event before running away with it by a length and a half and is worth another chance to build on that after a below-par run on his latest start at Doncaster. He was beaten nearly five lengths in the Futurity on that occasion.

He is better than he was able to show that day and did well to finish third when considering that he took a fierce hold throughout the race and appeared to do far too much too soon. Nevertheless, he stuck on well for pressure and must have a serious amount of ability.

There is every chance that we will see him back at his best now that he returns to Newmarket and it won’t take a huge improvement on last season’s Royal Lodge form to win this race.

It doesn’t look like the strongest recent running of this prestigious Group 3 contest, which is a further plus when considering this selection.

Get a 10% winnings boost on your win single bet if your horse wins in our selected race! T&Cs Apply. 

Click the links for the latest Today's Horse Races and Horse Racing Odds

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights