Newmarket Horse Racing Tips for Friday

There is quality everywhere you look on the second day of Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting on Friday, with three Group races and two Listed events stealing the show.

Friday’s Newmarket Horse Racing Betting Tips and Odds

14:25 – Time Lock @ 9/4
15:00 – Formal @ 6/4
15:35 – Poker Face @ 9/2

14:25 – Time Lock @ 9/4

The Princess Royal Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Stakes (14.25) is the first of three Group races live on ITV3 and it can go to Time Lock for the second year in a row.

The Harry Charlton-trained mare saves all of her best form for Newmarket and was better than ever when running away with this race last season by four and a quarter lengths. However, we haven’t seen the same horse this year and that includes at this course.

Time Lock has been beaten three times in a row, but her second in the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes over course and distance in May wasn’t a bad effort in the context of this race and she also wasn’t disgraced when third behind Giavellotto on the July course last time.

She is back against her own sex here, at her favourite course, and tends to come to herself at this time of the year, so is taken to bounce back to winning ways in a first-time tonguestrap.

15:00 – Formal @ 6/4

The most exciting horse lining up at Newmarket on Friday is Formal and she is strongly fancied to continue her progress by landing the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Rockfel Stakes (15:00).

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained filly is bred to be top class as a daughter of the 2019 Falmouth Stakes winner Veracious and she has started out on the right foot with two wins from two.

Formal won a maiden on her debut at Newbury in July on good to firm ground, but looked even better when giving weight and a beating to her rivals on soft going in a Leicester novice last time.

Stoute has won this race three times before with classy fillies, so knows what is needed, and wouldn’t be stepping Formal up into this grade unless he thought she would be up to it.

She needs to improve to bag a first Group success, but her trainer’s youngsters usually progress with racing and she has shaped like she should come on again. She can make the step up.

15:35 – Poker Face @ 9/2

The  Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Joel Stakes (15:35) is the feature race of the day and conditions have come right for Poker Face, who appears to be running back into some form.

The five-year-old would almost certainly win this race if he can reproduce the form he showed when beaten a length and a quarter by subsequent multiple Group 1 winner Charyn at Sandown in April. Poker Face was conceding weight to that rival on that occasion, so it was a superb effort.

He struggled in two outings on faster ground afterwards and was pulled up on good to firm at Royal Ascot, but has returned from a break with two solid efforts on a softer surface recently. He was second in the Celebration Mile at Goodwood and fourth at Leopardstown Group 2 last time.

Poker Face is 5lb better off with Ice Max, who beat him by a length in the Celebration Mile, and should be capable of reversing that form and going one better on these terms.

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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.