Ascot Horse Racing Tips for Saturday

Racing Post tipster Keith Melrose is back to provide his best tips for Saturday’s all-weather card at Ascot.

Saturday’s Ascot Horse Racing Betting Tips and Odds

13:35 Ascot - Desert Cop @ 9/1
15:20 Ascot - Thunder Blue @ 11/1
15:55 Ascot - Sam Hawkens @ 8/1

13:35 Ascot - Desert Cop @ 9/1

Andrew Balding is the trainer to follow at the Shergar Cup. Two-thirds of his runners here in the last five competitions have made the first three, and around a quarter have won.

DESERT COP has always appealed as an unvarnished talent for the yard and it has long looked like trying five furlongs at Ascot could get the best out of him. He has lots of form on stiff tracks, while looking like he might be best suited by the minimum trip.

He is bred to suit five furlongs. His brother Desert Law won this race and won the fastest race in Britain, the Dash at Epsom. 

Desert Cop shaped well in the Wokingham over six furlongs here last time. He travelled well and just did not quite enough to see it out, once more suggesting a slight drop in trip could suit. Just to be sure, Balding has fitted a visor for this one, but Desert Cop travels well enough that he should not need it.

Joanna Mason takes the ride. Domestic jockeys do well in the Shergar Cup and she has a win at Ascot from just 13 rides, so the draw has been fairly kind to Desert Cop. 

15:20 Ascot - Thunder Blue @ 11/1

Last season, Jamie Osborne had a horse called Executive Decision, who made her debut for the yard in the Holyrood House at Royal Ascot then came good later in the summer, winning at Goodwood and then taking a big prize in the Racing League.

This year THUNDER BLUE has followed a similar track for the yard. She also started in the Holyrood House, then after another promising run at Newmarket, picked up to win a Racing League event at Wolverhampton.

Racing League races are not only valuable (Thunder Blue took home more than £18,000 for winning a 0-85 handicap), they are accordingly competitive. Thunder Blue has gone up just 3lb in the weights for winning that race, and she has more to come. 

She has Ascot experience in the bank and she will be ridden by Marie Velon. French riders do well in the Shergar Cup, the theory being that the patient style taught to riders in France suits Ascot's straight course in particular. Thunder Blue is hugely overpriced to keep her good run going.

15:55 Ascot - Sam Hawkens @ 8/1

There is only one stable debutant among the 65 declared runners at the Shergar Cup. It is interesting that the horse in question, Sam Hawkens, represents William Haggas as he is another trainer who tends to target this competition.

SAM HAWKENS is bred to be smart. He is by Galileo and his dam, while a smart sprinter herself, is from a good middle-distance family. Her dam is a half-sister to an Oaks third.

Sam Hawkens was previously with Richard Hannon. His win came on heavy ground at Salisbury, but he did inch forward on his next two runs in handicaps. He raced prominently for Hannon, but looks versatile tactically, while he remains unexposed in general and Haggas would be a name you would associate more with late-developing middle-distance types.

On jockey bookings, Sam Hawkens has done well. Hayley Turner is the Shergar Cup's most successful jockey and she rides Ascot well generally. She has a decent record for Haggas, too, with four wins from 30 rides, so Sam Hawkens has a lot in his favour if he is well readied for this stable debut.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.