Saturday Racing Cheat Sheet: Best bets for ITV Racing at Sandown, Beverley and Chester

• Saturday Racing Cheat Sheet for Sandown, Beverley and Chester

• Get our tipsters' best bets and ambassador insight

• Tips from Katie Midwinter, Sam Turner and more experts

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Saturday horse racing tips and insight

13:30 Beverley - Timeform:  Oaks fancied to be crowned the winner

Crown Of Oaks was beaten at short odds on his first two starts this season, but after nine weeks off and a gelding operation he finally put it all together to open his account on handicap debut at Ayr last month.

That was his first start over a mile and a quarter and he clearly was well suited by the longer trip, produced to challenge in the final furlong and always doing enough to hold off the challenge of his main market rival in the closing stages.

Crown of Oaks is a horse who has stacks of potential, while his SPs suggest he's pretty well regarded at home, too, so he's a strong fancy to follow up from a 6lb higher mark with further progress anticipated - he is the only horse in the field with the 'Timeform small p' attached to his rating. 

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13:50 Sandown - Sam Turner: Back Bolt to belie his odds

"The reason why Metabolt has made a belated start to his campaign is unknown, but there was enough promise in his Haydock comeback to suggest he ought to be challenging in a race of this nature, especially if the rain hits Esher.

"The Night Of Thunder gelding took a run to find his best form last year when fourth on his return prior to winning twice in a fortnight and he may well have finished closer than sixth at Haydock but for suffering an interupted passage in the straight."

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14:05 Beverley - James Mackie:  Regional should be really tough to beat

Beverley is the venue for my best bet of the day and that is the ever reliable Regional who now drops into Listed company having been competitively competing in Group 1 races all season.

A winner of the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup back in 2023, he put his name on the map in the sprinting division.

Although he has not been seen winning since, during 2024 and 2025 he has ran credibly in every race he has ran in.

This season he has tackled four Group 1 events in the UAE, England, and France and is yet to finish outside the first four always hitting the frame.

The seven-year-old now drops into Listed company and it looks as though the Ed Bethell team have spotted a huge opportunity to get him back to winning ways.

He is the best horse in the race by a mile on the figures and if running his usual race he should be extremely tough to beat on Saturday.

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14:25 Sandown - James Mackie:  Rain set to suit Spiritual

The final selection of the afternoon comes in the Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown and it is great to see 14 runners head into this event.

With the rain that is falling at the Esher track and set to continue I think Spiritual is the horse to be on.

The John & Thady Gosden trained filly is carrying top weight of 9st 9lb but I think she is the class act in the field on what she has done during her career.

Last year as a three-year-old he best performance came over course and distance in the Listed Coral Distaff Stakes on soft ground where she bolted up to beat Indelible and Soprano.

She wasn't disgraced in this race last year when back in fourth behind the talented Tamfana on ground she is not suited by.

This season she has been seen three times, running a solid race on seasonal debut at Lingfield when not far back in third in the Group 3 Chartwell Stakes. She then went to Epsom on Derby day and absolutely bolted up by close to five lengths in the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes, beating some very smart fillies including the reopposing Bright Thunder.

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14:40 Chester - Katie Midwinter:  Balding can maintain impressive strike-rate

Andrew Balding, who boasts a strike-rate of 23% at the track this year with an all-time win percentage of 21 percent, has won two of the previous seven editions of the race and saddles talented stayer Alsakib in this year's renewal.

A Group Three winner, the son of Kingman recorded his latest success in the Silver Cup Stakes at York, beating now 114-rated Al Qareem by a length-and-a-half with the reopposing Tashkan further behind in fifth. If he's able to replicate that level of performance, he holds leading claims in this contest despite having 4lb to find with favourite Tabletalk.

The five-year-old grey has lacked consistency in recent runs, failing to make an impression when behind Vauban in the Lonsdale Cup last summer, before being well beaten in the Long Distance Cup, although some excuses could be made after a slow start that day at Ascot. 

Gelded following his final start of last season, Alsakib returned in fine fettle with a length-and-a-half defeat in the Yorkshire Cup to globetrotting sensation Rebel's Romance, a Group One winner since now rated 122, with useful performer Epic Poet and Goodwood Cup third Sweet William filling the places.

That level of performance makes him more than capable of landing Listed honours.

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15:00 Sandown - Timeform:  No Sad day for dadd

It may not have been the strongest renewal of the London Gold Cup which Saddadd won at Newbury earlier in the season, but it has still produced subsequent winners, and he looked a progressive three-year-old in doing so.

His previous form stacks up well too, not finishing far behind very smart Opera Ballo and exciting Gethin on his previous two starts this year, and he proved an opening mark of 95 workable as he reeled in one who attempted to make all of the running in the final furlong.

Saddadd hasn't been seen since, which is a slight concern, but he could hardly be in better hands, and the recent rain which Sandown have received will be very much in his favour. He remains an exciting prospect, one who should be graduating into pattern company sooner rather than later, and he's expected to take another step up the ladder now.

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15:15 Chester - Katie Midwinter:  Perfect looks the Part

Brian Ellison-trained filly Perfect Part is winless since her shock debut success at odds of 125/1126.00 at Beverley last summer, but has run well on a number of occasions since, including in Stakes company, and has the talent to be competitive in a handicap from her current rating of 92.

A runner here in her penultimate outing, the race didn't pan out favourable for the three-year-old filly in her first Chester experience, forced extremely wide around the home turn when attempting to mount her challenge. That can be impossible to recover from around this tight track, but she lost little in defeat and, although faced with a stiff task from a wide draw this time, can fare better with a more favourable trip.

Whilst she'll need plenty of luck in-running, Perfect Part is well treated at the weights and it should be a matter of time before she claims the second success of her career.

This term, she returned to action with a creditable performance at Listed level behind Spycatcher, outrunning odds of 50/151.00 to claim a fourth-place finish, and was unfortunate to be denied at York on handicap debut in May, short of room on the rail when in the process of putting in a bold bid at a price of 25/126.00.

In the hands of Duran Fentiman, who boasts a 22% strike-rate at the track this year, this daughter of Mehmas can make the frame with an advantageous passage, and could prove worth keeping onside at odds of 25/126.00.

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Now read Saturday ITV Antepost Racing Tips: Back Beverley Bullet outsider at 33/1

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