Friday's Horse Racing Tips: James Boyle's Best Bets at Ascot

For today's horse racing tips, our analyst James Boyle looks at the flat racing at Ascot, with two selections now online.

As always, you’ll find the most up-to-date odds at the best horse racing betting sites, but our tipster’s predictions are researched early in the day and those prices could soon change. Odds stated are correct at the time of publishing.

14:00 Ascot – Mythical Guest – 1pt @ 11/2

Mythical Guest isn’t the heartiest of individuals but there’s no doubting that he’s on a good mark now having fallen to 80, 9lbs below his peak rating a couple of seasons ago.

There wasn’t much in the way of promise during his first two outings this term, only beating two horses home, but I thought he shaped a lot better on quicker ground at Newmarket when given a more forceful ride than usual. He understandably weakened but wasn’t beaten far.

Positioning him towards the front of the field isn’t really the route to go with him and if he’s ridden a bit quieter this time, there’s every chance we’ll be seeing him show improved form.

Three of his four C&D runs have yielded places, including when favourite for this contest a year ago, and he’s usually taking on a better quality of opposition. If he gets into a good rhythm and gets a lead from one or two of the others, he should be in the firing line late on.

16:55 Ascot – Fast Track Harry – 1.50pts @ 7/1

This is an open looking handicap but I think Fast Track Harry should be the favourite to win now that he’s getting to race in a lesser grade again, and 7/1 makes plenty of appeal.

He tackled the Wokingham at the Royal meeting and ran a solid race, not beaten all that far at a level he’s not up to. The handicapper dropping him by a couple of pounds for that is a help and it puts him onto the same mark he defied when successful on the All-Weather in March.

Jack Nicholls retaining the ride is no harm either, his 5lb claim being a valuable one, and the horse should be more comfortable for longer taking in a smaller field than was the case for his last two starts, the other being a 22-runner field at York where he had a poor track position.

There was some promise in how he performed at Leicester before those efforts and with the lower mark in a lesser grade, alongside the rider’s claim, everything may align for him this time. First-time cheekpieces can give him a lift as well and I expect he’s the one to beat.