talkSPORT have you covered with free horse racing tips and free bets on Friday’s fixtures at Exeter and Hexham.
Tom Lunn has gone through the cards, form, going and much more to help guide your horse racing betting choices.
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Skyjack Hijack has won over hurdles four times now going right up in the weights each time justifying favouritism.
After his latest win he was upped 12lb to his new overall rating of which he escapes that penalty in this contest running off of 113 instead of 125.
Of course with those wins this season he does carry a 10lb penalty over his five rivals.
Jack Black has some good form to capitalise on though placing behind Making Headway and East India Express who are rated around Shyjack Hijack’s level, but he’s yet to reach his ceiling mark so will need to improve more.
Most of these are unraced over hurdles or without form over jumps so it really comes down to these two, in which the Jennie Candlish-trained horse comes out on top despite the penalty.
The Haldon Gold Cup Chase at Exeter looks to be a great renewal with six runners, including JPR One, Djelo and Etalon.
The former is the favourite but it’s still wide open in the betting as the top-rated JPR One carries top-weight but appears for the first time since a disappointing run in the Grade 1 Arkle.
He went for a wind op in August and does run well fresh so he appeals a lot.
Djelo gets just 2lb from the slightly higher rated JPR One who has also won over this distance and at this course before.
He fell when 9/4 favourite when last taking on JPR One at Lingfield falling at the first fence, so we didn’t quite get to see how they could take each other on.
Djelo is yet to win since December 2023 after finding Grade 1s seemingly too tough.
But the way he won at the start of last season he’s got to be considered to progress further, as he’s still only six-years-old.
Etalon has won three of his four chase starts only losing at Aintree when clearly not up to it that day finishing seventh of ten behind Found A Fifty.
His three wins put him right up there form-wise, beating the likes of Martator and Gunsight Ridge comfortably so shouldn’t be discounted.
The good ground could benefit the front two in the market, more than Etalon at least.
JPR One coming back into this though has to be the selection, he’s still quite lightly raced in this sphere and his strike rate is superior.
Got to go for this huge price on Egbert, a gelding that has won twice over fences and really thrives over 3m.
His latest race was in the Scottish Grand National so it’s no surprise to see him and many others pull up in that tough 4m contest.
He’s down 4lb from that result so returns off a summer break at the same mark he was second to Slipway at Kempton, so has lots of value here.
Beat Snipe by four lengths at Doncaster in January and that second at Kempton was also a great run finishing ahead of plenty of his rivals.
A very interesting contest at Hexham sees Caithness who made his chase debut last time out against The Churchill Lad now rated 3lb higher.
You’d have to think that if that was his first start over fences he’s got to improve on that and as such will reverse the placings having been beaten by just a head.
The Churchill Lad was upped 4lb for that victory but couldn’t get near Western Zephyr last time out and could come up against an improver in Caithness.
The eight-year-old was carrying 3lb more when beaten, so there’s now a 1lb bump which shouldn’t make much of a difference but given they were only separated by a short head, it could well be enough to see a reverse in the placings.
All odds correct at time of writing
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