Rory Delargy and David Massey are back with a look ahead to Tuesday's racing.
Racing betting tips: Tuesday May 26
0.5pts e.w Hunterian in the 16:20 Redcar at 28/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4, General, min 20/1)
15:50 Redcar – Class 4 (0-85) Handicap 7f219y
The early races at Redcar aren’t appealing from a betting perspective, but this straight-mile handicap looks a race to get stuck into, and I would be surprised if Classic Encounter didn’t have a huge say at this level. A C&D winner on his only previous visit to Redcar, making him the only one in this field with winning course form, he’s slipped to an attractive mark despite catching the eye on his last two starts. It was a surprise to see him in refitted cheekpieces at Newmarket last time as he seemed to react negatively to the headgear on two previous occasions, and he was again below his best in finishing sixth of 13 behind Spanish Voice, albeit shaping better than the result as he finished second of those drawn high in a race where the first four home came from the lowest four stalls. Prior to that he had run creditably on ground too soft for him at Doncaster, and looks ready to return to his best with conditions in his favour.
The cheekpieces are sensibly abandoned now and Classic Encounter is just 1lb higher than when winning over nine furlongs at York last summer. The key to him is racing on good or quicker ground at 1m/1m1f and his record in such conditions reads 21231436, with his last four runs coming in higher class than this. George Boughey has a 34% strike-rate at Redcar, improving to 50% when Pat Cosgrave rides, as he did when Classic Encounter scored here last term.
16:20 Redcar – Class 6 (0-65) Handicap 7f
In the last decade, there has been a tendency to see races develop on the far rail at Redcar with the result that low-numbered stalls have been favoured (or vice versa if you’re identifying cause and effect), but that bias has shifted more recently and while the riders are still keen to cross over on occasion, there has been no disadvantage to backing horses drawn fairly high, especially those who can race on the pace. In 55 straight-course races with double-figure fields since 2055, stall 2, which would have been viewed as a positive by many, has won just once, while the most successful stalls, statistically, have been 16, 11, 8 and 15. It’s not a case of the higher the better, but more of testing old maxims before believing them.
HUNTERIAN failed to improve as anticipated on his handicap debut at Newcastle last time, but there are reasons for thinking he can do better here, and he is taken to make all from a stall in the centre. Hunterian is a half-brother to the same connections’ Tattie Bogle, who was a good second at Ayr last week and is a more reliable performer on turf than the all-weather. That’s not surprising as their dam, Tottie was a turf winner who was third in the Lingfield Oaks Trial. I’d expect Hunterian to be better suited by Redcar than Newcastle. He showed ability from the front in a good novice (winner rated 90) at Wolverhampton in January and is the type to progress if taking to turf as expected.
Preview posted at 09:03 BST on 26/05/26
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