Best Weekend Racing Bets: Three value plays for Saturday's big races at Newmarket and Chepstow

Saturday, Newmarket, 15:40, Cesarewitch Handicap Tip 1: Back Sea Lantern EW @ 10/111.00

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Sea Lantern

• J: Rowan Scott
• T: Brian Ellison
• F: 31-31

Saturday's second leg of the "autumn double" will be the best punting race of the day and we've got two former winners in Beylerbeyi 9/25.50 and Manxman 12/113.00 fairly prominent in the betting.

There's a strong potential Irish challenge too, not a surprise as trainers from the Emerald Isle have won seven of the last nine renewals.

Beyleybeyi, so often a regular in the big staying races has to break history as the last back-to-back winner came in 1900, a horse called Clarehaven off just 7-13. Which is roughly the weight of one of my legs.

Another unusually dry week ahead means any going with soft in the description is highly unlikely.

We'll go double-handed for the Cesarewitch. For my first tip Sea Lantern has the look of a horse well worth chancing at this sort of trip.

The 10/111.00 shot caught the eye when third at Pontefract in the spring. He was 16/117.00 that day and was running for the first time for Brian Ellison having joined from Jack Davison in Ireland, and with a few months off, came out to win, again at Ponty last time with a fair bit in hand.

Sea Lantern thrashed Morbeh by over 4L, his first try at 1m4f and relished the opposition as much as the new distance and was the only horse to dip under 14 seconds at the 11f marker, which offers hope that he can stay well.

He is a son of the greatest Sea The Stars, whose stats from over 200 runners reads win at 21% and placed at a massive 40%.

Saturday, Newmarket, 15:40, Cesarewitch Handicap Tip 2: Back Mountain Road EW @ 10/111.00

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Mountain Road (Fr)

• J: Paul Mulrennan
• T: Jim Goldie
• F: 18/435132

Jim Goldie's 616 runners sent out from his Lanarkshire base this calendar year has yielded 64 winners and over £1.2million in prize money although he hasn't had a three-year-old winner on the turf out of all those numbers.

His metier of producing unlikely wins out of older horses can pay off here, hopefully, with Mountain Road.

As a seven-year-old, the cat is hardly out of the bag, but Goldie can often be the disruptor in these big handicaps and Mountain Road ran a screamer at York when last seen when second behind Joseph O'Brien's Small Fry.

That's hot form, over 2m, as the winner was rated in the 90s, and it's fair to say got the better ride.

Lauren Young was on Mountain Road and must have been 20L off the pace and last but three turning for home, only to run an astonishing 12.37 seconds at the final furlong, which was nearly a whole second faster than the third, and quicker too than Small Fry.

The pace was steady with the data highlighting Mountain Road's finish speed was 110%, and perhaps he was given the sort of ride to see how he'd contend with the marathon trip, and the evidence from that is that 2m2f is that he is well worth a go.

We have four places on the antepost Sportsbook and a pair of 10/111.00 shots can hopefully give us a good position.

Saturday,Chepstow, 16:02, Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle Tip: Back The Mighty Celt @ 8/19.00

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The Mighty Celt (Ire)

• J:
• T: Dan Skelton
• F: 5/3228367-

Be warned and be prepared. The jumping season commences "properly" this weekend, of sorts anyway with all hurdles' races in Wales due to the obscene summer, and I am buckling myself in for the presenters and pundits alike to utter the phrases: 1) moving up a notch 2) cranking up the gears 3) ratcheting up the levels.

The forecast this week indicates rain on every day, which will delight the course commissars and hoping for good to soft is realistic.

The betting make-up is also a reminder of trainers I tend to avoid as I find a few too difficult to ride. Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies for one, who saddle the favourite Masked Man at 4/15.00.

The other? Jonjo.

So no Wellington Arch, the second favourite, for me then. I'm more of a General Blucher kind of guy anyway.

Ike Sport looks a little overpriced for Neil Mulholland at 12/113.00, as he was second to Wellington Arch at Aintree, albeit in a receipt of a lot of weight.

Swinton winner Moon Chine is the same price and should be fit from a spin on the Flat 34 days ago.

But at slightly shorter, I am going for The Mighty Celt at 8/19.00. One of a number entered for Dan Skelton.

Firstly, he looks off a good mark from 131 and finished sixth and seventh at the two big Cheltenham and Aintree meetings.

His sixth in the Fred Winter saw him held up and meet some trouble, and while often keen in races, the step up in distance with him now settling in an improved fashion can help here.

At Aintree he was given a lot to do, but he did settle amongst an army of horses and stayed on.

He goes off 131, a winnable mark, and clearly there is a big race in this horse. There is no better target trainer now than Dan Skelton, we just have to get the right target.

Alan Dudman's notable antepost winners in 2026

January: The Doyen Chief Kempton WON 7/2
Vincenzo, Ascot, WON 3/1
Scorsese, Cheltenham PLACED 12/1
February: Kalium, Ascot, PLACED 12/1
Montregard, Ascot, WON 6/17.00
Grand Geste, Haydock, EW WON 12/1
Lookaway, Kempton, EW WON 16/1
March: Pina Sonata, Kempton, WON 8/1
April: Favour And Fortune, Aintree, PLACED 14/1
Konfusion, Aintree, PLACED 12/1
Whip Cracker, Newbury, PLACED 10/1
Sarab Star, Haydock, PLACED 10/1
President Scottie, Perth, PLACED 12/1
May/June: Washington Heights, WON 5/1
Thundering On, Epsom, WON 11/2
July: Team Player PLACED 16/1
August: Calendar Girl EW WON 14/1
September: Fondo Blanco EW PLACED 16/1
Pellitory EW WON 40/1

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