David Massey is back with three bets across today's meetings.
Racing betting tips: Friday April 24
1pt win Opera Ballo in the 15:00 Sandown at 8/1 (General, min 15/2)
0.5pts e.w Whistle Stop Tour in the 14:40 Perth at 25/1 (Bet365 - 1/5 1,2,3,4, min 20/1)
0.5pts e.w Musique De Fee in the 14:40 Perth at 40/1 (General - 1/5 1,2,3,4, min 33/1)
A small field makes for an intriguing renewal of the Gordon Richards and while I think that Almeric will make into a smart four-year-old, he’s another who looks a trifle too short in the early market. King of Cities has very similar form on the whole and is also open to improvement having joined Karl Burke before this reappearance run. A winner of the Strensall Stakes at York last August, King of Cities often looked to lack the pace for a mile and benefited from the longer trip as much as the stronger pace when beating Boiling Point at York and the step up to ten furlongs could be the key to his continuing progress for his new stable.
For his part, Almeric has arguably the best single piece of form in winning the Doonside Cup at Ayr, but that was on softer ground and drying conditions sway the verdict in favour of King of Cities.
Field of Gold is another short-priced favourite on the card and the third I’m willing to side against at the odds. He was brilliant until picking up an injury in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, but has to go down as disappointing when only fifth to Cicero’s Gift in the QEII Stakes when returning in the autumn. He is likely to prove better than that run after a longer break, but given he’s around 11/10 and the winner of that race is freely available to back at 20/1 here, it could be said that the chances of him bouncing straight back to his best have been fully factored into the market. He also needs to progress again to deft the weight-for-age scale and while he was a class apart from his cohort last year, it’s no given that he has developed enough to maintain his superiority, even if forgiving his defeats at Goodwood and Ascot.
Opera Ballo didn’t scale the same heights as a three-year-old, but still won five of his seven races, including the Heron Stakes here and the Henry Cecil Stakes at Newmarket. He has shown that he’s progressed further when winning the Jebel Hatta at Meydan in January and he wasn’t at his best when beaten by Zeus Olympios in the Joel Stakes at Newmarket in between. He’s got more to offer, especially when learning to relax fully, and is a spot of value here.
Yesterday we looked at a race and ended up making it a no-bet race as we fundamentally disagreed on how to approach it and indeed, the answers we came up with here, whilst we have come up with two selections, they're pretty much for the same reason and so each can see the others point of view. As such, we'll back the pair of them.
Both Whistle Stop Tour and Musique De Fee have been plying their trade over fences and it's fair to say itr hasn't gone well for wither, the latter looking hard work at times and the former finding the Eider too much of a test last time out. Both should be happier back over hurdles and in the case of Musique De Fee, the cheekpieces going back on should be a plus too. All she does is stay and wants good ground, so with Mickey Bowen back in good form, she's worth chancing.
Whistle Stop Tour has the assistance of Gragor Walkinshaw, who rode a winner yesterday and has been placed twice on Whistle Stop Tour already, so knows the horse well.
Preview posted at 09:35 BST on 24/04/26
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