Across four cards to enter the weekend, here are Andrew Mount’s best bets for Friday, as he heads to Newbury and Ffos Las.
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Posted: 3.50pm, Thursday, March 20th
3.00 Newbury – MANUELITO (2pt win – 9/2 bet365)
MANUELITO ran as though the outing were needed when a 24-length seventh of 14 in a soft-ground 2m handicap Taunton at February last month – his first run for the Hobbs & White stable and first since July. He built on that with a solid 10-1 second of eight to King Of The Lake at Exeter on March 7th where the ground was much quicker. That run took his jumps record in the spring (March to May) to 2112 (2-4) and this track will suit (he was a winner at similar layout Ffos Las on his latest left-handed start and also ran well here on the Flat for Richard Hannon).
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3.30 Newbury HITITI (1pt win – 3/1 bet365)
It would be easy to conclude that HITITI is ungenuine as there are plenty of runner-up efforts in his form figures, but Robert Walford’s eight-year-old tends to thrive at this time of year and can get back to winning ways. He ran a cracker in the Pertemps qualifier at Exeter last month, finding only Catch Him Derry too good. That one boosted the form when third in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham last week, as did Exeter third Jeriko Du Reponet who finished second in the same race. Sixth-placed Mayhem Mya also ran well at the festival (50-1 fourth in the Mares’ Chase). Hititi’s record in the March to April period reads 11110 (4-5), improving to 1111 (4-4) in today’s Class 3 company or lower.
3.40 Ffos Las – TOP OF THE BILL (1.5pt win – 5/1 bet365) & 0.5pt win ROUGUE DE L’QUEST (4/1 bet365)
The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained TOP OF THE BILL is something of an oddball as he tends to hang to his left in his races but has won three times at right-handed Exeter, twice over fences. However, he didn’t get away with it at Sandown in December when we last saw him, pulling up before three out in the 3m4f London National won by Mr Vango. Perhaps the small fields he encountered for those wins and the wide-open spaces of Exeter were the key ingredients and the nine-year-old’s sole left-handed chase run over 3m+ saw him make all at Wetherby at about this time last year. The son of Fame And Glory returns to a left-handed track off the same mark of 133 and the wide nature of this track will suit.
ROUGE DE L’QUEST is another nine-year-old son of Fame And Glory and he’s worth a saver. Rebecca Curtis’ gelding pulled up in a first-time visor at Bangor on his latest start, but the ground was plenty soft enough and his usual blinkers return today. His two course runs over fences produced a 13-length win and a head second, both in the March/April period.
Andrew Mount’s Best Bets
3.00 Newbury – MANUELITO (2pt win – 9/2 bet365)
3.30 Newbury HITITI (1pt win – 3/1 bet365)
3.40 Ffos Las – TOP OF THE BILL (1.5pt win – 5/1 bet365) & 0.5pt win ROUGUE DE L’QUEST (4/1 bet365)
Hititi
Top Of The Bill
Andrew Mount’s tips for Friday, 21st March 2025
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