Sunday Horse Racing Tips: Back Duran to deliver a knockout blow in Haydock 65/1 double

• Sunday Series at Haydock live on ITV4

• Two tips returning to the track can help chances

• Alan Dudman's ITV Betfair Sportsbook double pays 65/166.00 

Haydock - 17:15: Back Duran @ 6/17.00

It's always easy to jettison any sort of racecard at Leicester and Sunday is no different with yet another low wattage card. Wolverhampton is even worse and one can pose a question why such a pointless fixture is on. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

But Haydock is our saviour.

Duran could be our saviour too if he can get back to winning ways, and as a previous Haydock winner, that's the obvious route in here.

The four-year-old copped a 0-95 in May over course and distance and beat the speedy pair Grandlad and Blue Day with a good staying performance. Staying is perhaps not the correct term for a sprinter, but Duran doesn't quite have the early zip and it showed against Grandlad who was whizzing up the inside rail. However, Duran, while pushed along at the halfway point, still managed to run 11.05 seconds at halfway and was easily the fastest at the final furlong.

That win was in a better class, and while he was well beaten in a hot handicap in Ireland (the Rockingham), his effort at Chester last time saw him out of the cash.

It wasn't a disaster at the Roodee, as he isn't naturally quick enough for that track anyway, and no one ever knows what the going is either there.

Back at Haydock and down to a mark of 84, he represented a fair each-way chance at the 8/19.00 initially, but by 11pm on Saturday night had gone to 6/17.00, so if you're going that way with five places on offer from the Sportsbook it is probably just about acceptable.

Haydock - 17:45: Back Definitive @ 17/29.50

We haven't seen the best from Clive Cox's filly Definitive yet, but this contest is not exactly a chimera and Haydock was a kind venue to her as she won here on her debut.

Rewinding to last year, it was an odd sort of race for her first start. A small field split into two and Definitive found herself almost locked in a pocket and hemmed in with just two other runners over on the far rail.

Alas, I loved the arterial power in the end, as she displayed some pluck and fight and won going away. On that win (over 6f), she very much looked like a 7f runner as was quickest in the field at both the penultimate and final furlong.

She was highly-tried soon after with a fifth in the Princess Margaret and a subsequent heavy loss in the Group 2 Rockfel, but the ground pierced her hopes by being too heavy.

Definitive showed a lot more at Doncaster on her latest run - having no problem with the 7f nor the good to firm going.

The mark has slipped from those heady and over-optimistic Group efforts, and from 90 she's down to 83. It still might look a bit stiff afterwards, but we don't do after-timing here and this looks another at a price worth taking.

And a final note from me.

This is the final Daily Racing Multiple column as it will be no more as of Sunday's finale. I'd like to thank all those that I worked with for their help since the start in 2021, and most importantly those who took time out to read it, and making a profit for a follower is an important maxim to live by.

I didn't always get it right, and had far too many seconds for "what might have been", but I am proud to come away with a profit for a column that is, as is always the case on these pages, totally free to read and had maintained the P and L since the inception. There were a few column favourites too in my time, and for those wins from the courageous horses, I will be eternally grateful and loved them in their own unique ways. 

I'll be penning a Saturday ITV multis column in the future with antepost previews on Tuesday. 

Good luck and thanks, 

Al

July winners settled at BSP:

Blue Bolt 3.16 win
Delacroix 4.4 win
Theoryofeverything 3.17 win
Ina Mina 6.31 win
Zayer (place) 4.14
King's Charter 3.25 win
Bowerchalke win 9.39 (place) 2.94
Against The Wind win 10.5 (place) 3.05
Individualism 7.4 win
Raffles Angel 10.92 win
Gazelle d'Or (place) 7.45
Royalty Bay (place) 6.60
JM Jhingree 16.0 win
Getreadytorumble (place) 2.99

Winning doubles in July:

5th July - 16/117.00 Blue Bolt and Delacroix
13th July- 98/199.00 win and place double Bowerchalke and Against The Wind
19th July- 9/110.00 place double Gazelle d'Or and Royalty Bay

August winners settled at BSP:

Frost At Dawn (place) 4.1
Bulletin (place) 5.8
Big Leader 2.6
Toptime 4.14 (win) 1.78 (place)
Suite Francaise 10.30

Winning doubles in August:

1st August - 17/29.50 place double Bulletin and Frost At Dawn

Now read Timeform's view on Sunday's racing here!