Channel 4 Racing Tips: Back-to-form win on the cards for McMahon filly

No matter how down on your luck you are in this game - I'd like to meet the person who is in worse tipping form than me at the moment, if only to make me feel better - the golden rule of punting is to stay calm and consistent.

And don't go down the short-term route of backing odds-on pokes trying to nick an easy few quid and end that embarrassing losing run.

There is no such thing as free money, trust me, as one Betfair layer will vouch for after an extraordinary series of events at Lingfield at Thursday.

And it probably didn't get the attention it deserved because some bloke with a very short name rode his 4,000th jumps winner a couple of minutes later at Towcester.

So I'll recap for you.

There was a false start called in the 14:50 at Lingfield after the stall of Strategic Action failed to open. But not before one punter - presumably thinking it had simply refused to race and would be declared a runner, with all bets standing - literally wiped the lay side on the horse.

Some eye-wateringly big sums were matched on the horse all the way out to odds of 970.0969/1 on Betfair, with £794 matched at a post rule 4 price of 179.0178/1 alone.

The punter must have thought he was literally picking up free money from the floor.

But the joke - and a six-figure liability to boot - was on him as the race was re-started with Strategic Action in the field.

As "market sweepers" go - that is the common term given to punters who believe an outcome is so guaranteed that they take every price available in the market - this guy was about as competent as Trigger on Only Fools And Horses.

Make that Trigger Happy.

Or Trigger Very Unhappy as Strategic Action took it up entering the straight and promptly traded at 1.84/5 in running.

Many would say that he would have got his just desserts - and presumably his marching orders from the missus - had the horse held on, but fortunately for him it faded close home.

The story just goes to show that greed is probably the punter's worst friend. Mind you, if I could buy a winner at the moment, I would.

Doncaster 13:50 - Tartiflette

But we are not going down the obvious route of backing shorties, so I am heading to Doncaster and Tartiflette in the fourth race on the card. Back her at odds of 15.014/1 or better.

Let's hope history is the guide to the future here because Tartiflette is currently two from two at this meeting.

She won the Cock O' The North maiden here as a 2yo - it may be juvenile in every sense but I can't write that race title without recalling Viz's Sid the Sexist bar-room boast that "if the lady wants a baby, then I'm the Cock of the North" - and then this very race last year as a 3yo, off just a 1lb higher mark than this.

She looked set for a very good season when winning on fast ground on her seasonal reappearance at Haydock but some generally lack-lustre runs since has seen her dropped down from 94 to 85 in the handicap.

Now, she is a tricky ride - so it is a positive that Graham Gibbons, who rode her at Haydock and knows her well, is back on board - and she could well have gone, after initially appearing to have shown very little since the blinkers were applied three starts ago.

But she ran better than her finishing position suggests at Ascot last time - she has been isolated in recent starts and I think she is best coming through horses late off a fast pace - loves soft ground, and I am taking a chance that trainer Ed McMahon would have had this race in mind for her for a while.

On her Haydock win, he will also know that she is the best handicapped horse in here. I take Gibbons to produce her late for a back-to-form win.

If you are betting over jumps on Saturday, the Paul Nicholls column on Betfair tomorrow is a must read - it has it all, breathing ops, racecourse gallops, text messages from AP - and he has a strong hand with Aiteen Thirtythree and Poungach in the Badger Ales, and Far West in the Elite.

Doncaster 15:35 - Lahaag

But for my other bet of the day, I am going to stick with Doncaster. Jack Dexter has an obvious chance in the sprint, but Lahaag in the November Handicap gets my second vote.

He did well to win over 1m4f on good going at York last time and if anything I think he is more effective on the softer ground that he will get today.

He is unexposed and looks a typical John Gosden improver, and the trainer has won this race with similar types before. In fact he has won this race five times, most recently with Charm School, in 2009 and six-length winner Zuider Zee in 2012.

At 8.615/2 Lahaag rates a fair bet to continue the good work.

Recommended Bets

Back Tartiflette @ 15.014/1 or better - Doncaster 13:50
Back Lahaag @ 8.615/2 or better - Doncaster 15:35