John Burke

Evening all,

The rain clearly missed Newbury and there was a skew of non-runners there yesterday. I wish I hadn’t bothered going through the form for the card. Whether it was ground or the form of the Emma Lavelle yard I’m not sure, but yesterday’s selection Flemcara put in a laboured performance.

The eyes of the racing world will be firmly fixed on Keeneland today where the Breeders Cup gets underway.

We all have our own ways off approaching a meeting like the Breeders Cup. Some won’t have a bet all. For those that do. I would humbly suggest that you have a separate bank to the one you use for your daily punting. That’s what I’m doing. I have set aside a 14pt back to cover two days and that’s the most I will be playing.

The best of the action in Britain today is at Exeter. Sadly, the feature race the Betway Haldon Gold Cup (3:35) has attracted just five runners. More on that later.

ITV4 are covering the best of the action from Exeter and Down Royal this afternoon. And of course, they have Breeders Cup Special on ITV3 this evening.

Inside today’s main piece you’ll find my thoughts on the best of the action on ITV.

Read More »Haldon Gold Cup Selection

Evening all,

The promised Breeders Cup Special turned out to be longer than expected so I have split the Thursday’s column into two parts. This one sees me continue to look ahead to the weekend’s big races. And I continue my series on trainers with runners in the first time headgear, today’s it’s the turn of the visor. There’s also my look ahead to the best of today; s action.

The promised Breeders Cup Special will be with you on Thursday morning. I have previewed all 14 races live on ITV over the two days and there’s my idea of the winner of each of the races.

If you want my Breeders Cup betting advice and there are handful of overpriced horses. You can get them by joining the Victor Value Service.

Read More »Newbury Selection

Evening all,

It doesn’t get much better than this weekend, does it?  

We have the Betway Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter on Friday. On Saturday we have the Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton, the Grand Sefton Handicap Chase at Aintree and Doncaster finally brings down the curtain down on the 2022 flat season. It’s the November Handicap at the latter track and it shows you how far Doncaster’s November Handicap has fallen in prestige. This former big ante-post race is arguably now the third biggest race of Saturday when it used to be the centrepiece.

Besides all the good stuff here. Across the Atlantic it’s the Breeders Cup at Keeneland. The action stateside gets underway on Friday, and you’ll be able to watch 14 races over the two days live on ITV.

I have been preparing a preview for the Breeders Cup which will be out tomorrow. And the more I looked at the Breeders Cup races the more excited I got.

Inside today’s main piece I begin this week’s look ahead to the big race action by previewing Saturday’s Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton.

Read More »A Bumper Weekend Ahead

Evening all,

A new month and the weather is starting to be more in tune with the season. The rain final arrived in decent amounts last week. Hopefully it will continue this week as both Exeter & Wincanton have big meetings later in the week and the latter in particular needs the wet stuff.

There was some good action at Carlisle on Sunday. The highlight of the Carlisle card was the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase but there were some other notable performances on the day.   

Inside today’s main piece its notebook day I look back at the Carlisle card and there are a few horses from last weekend that are worth keeping onside going forward.  

Read More »Horses from the Notebook and Newcastle Pick