Today's tips: Racing preview and best bets

Racing betting tips: Wednesday May 22

0.5pts e.w. Tigerten in 2.30 Yarmouth at 8/1 (William Hill, bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4) - min 7/1

1pt win Hiero Sport in 8.10 Southwell at 8/1 (William Hill, 888Sport) - min 7/1

0.5pts e.w. Lord Getaway in 8.40 Southwell at 66/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5) - min 40/1

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

2:30 Yarmouth

Yarmouth is sure to be hit by the band of heavy rain predominating on Wednesday and the ground will be close to soft by race time if the forecast is correct. That would make TIGERTEN look the one to be with here with stamina as well as an ability to handle the ground a prerequisite.

Plenty of these stay the 1m6f trip, but not many stay it with cut in the ground; Tigerten most certainly does, having twice hit the minor placings in heavy ground at Bath and Catterick at the back end of last year, and after a perfectly acceptable warm up at Bath last month, he should strip fit enough to do himself justice.

Billy Loughnane in the saddle is a plus, and all in all he should be hitting the frame here, at worst.

8:10 Southwell

We expect this to be run on soft ground at best, and possibly heavy, with Southwell due to get rain for the best part of 24 hours from Tuesday evening onwards. The worst of it is through the night and daytime Wednesday, and most of these simply won’t want what’s coming.

None of the runners in this handicap have won on soft or heavy going – in any sphere – so the job is to work out which of those unexposed runners might win on such a surface given the right opportunity. Step forward handicap debutant HIERO SPORT, whose best effort to date was when third on his sole bumper start on softish ground at Market Rasen.

Hiero Sport left his previous hurdling efforts behind when a creditable fourth to Acquitaine Boy over 2m here last time, and while that wasn’t a deep contest, he didn’t have the kitchen sink thrown at him by any means and was going on nicely at the finish.

Out of a useful hurdler in France who won on soft ground, Hiero Sport has been campaigned with handicaps in mind, and the son of top sire No Risk At All should improve enough to figure in a race where his ability to handle the ground will be a big positive.

8:40 Southwell

Once again, stamina and an ability to handle the mud could be key, and that won’t be ideal for the majority of these, summer jumpers that they are. Filtering the form through a soft-ground lens doesn’t necessarily give you the answers you want, but to paraphrase Mick Jagger, it does sometimes give the answers that you need.

LORD GETAWAY would have been a lot more interesting had he been wearing some headgear - he has won without, but we’ve had about five Prime Ministers since then - but he is the one horse in the field who will definitely stay and won’t care how bad the ground gets.

He’d have badly needed the run at Hereford after missing the whole of 2023 and it’s possible that he might need this too, but there’s a fair chance of only a handful of finishers here, and he is capable of surprising at a big price.

Preview posted 0926 BST on 22/05/24

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