Liam Firkin landed a 5/1 winner yesterday and returns with his best betting angles for Saturday's action.
12:25 – DONCASTERSee All Odds
TIP 1: ON THE RIVER – 0.5 Pts EW
Best odds of 6/1 at Unibet while publishing.
Saturday is going to kick off with a horse on the flat and this time of year and meeting will see the softer ground types come to the fore. ON THE RIVER is one of them and although he has had a bit of an in and out season with some inconsistent performances along the way, a few could easily be forgiven due to the lack of ideal ground conditions and a significant number of them having come on the all weather surface.
He has hit the frame on two of his last three starts at this course as well as being narrowly denied in here at the backend of last season when finishing second off a mark that was just 1lb higher than what he comes into the race off today.
He has the ground conditions to suit and should get competitive at this course once again.
15:00 – AINTREESee All Odds
TIP 2: DEEP CAVE – 0.5 Pts EW (4 Places)
Best odds of 12/1 at bet365 while publishing.
LORD SNOOTIE – 0.5 Pts EW (4 Places)
Best odds of 40/1 at William Hill while publishing.
The Christian Williams runners are the pair that I like in this Pertemps Qualifier. The first, DEEP CAVE was a selection on seasonal reappearance at Chepstow and that first outing may well have served as a very good preparation for this second run of the season.
There was plenty of encouragement, including his final run of last season and he brings fitness along with course and distance form and is seemingly well handicapped based on what he has achieved over fences.
He has performed in the early parts of the season previously with a win in 2023 which saw him return to the track in France where he was a winner of a race at Compiegne and repeated the same feat following a 7-month break before scoring at Bangor which was backed up with another win at Ascot, the following month (both over fences).
These waters are much calmer than those he was running in at Chepstow and given the overnight support, he can go well at a price.
LORD SNOOTIE is the second of the pair and again, he has shown a liking for Aintree having finished second here in a grade 3 handicap at the April festival meeting two years ago. He then suffered a setback but returned to the track last season to prove that he still has the ability to be competitive at this level.
Unlike Deep Cave, he may benefit from this run and has not seen the same market support as the other Williams runner but if he is ready to put his best foot forward then his mark of 123, which is 2lbs lower than when finishing ahead of the likes of West Balboa, Johnnywho, Monmiral, could make him dangerous at a huge price.
