Horse racing tips: James Boyle's best bets for Saturday

Horse racing tips today:

• 14:10 Haydock – Sacred Falls – 1pt @ 7/2 with Bet365
• 14:45 Haydock – Tacarib Bay – 1pt @ 5/1 with William Hill
• 18:40 Doncaster – Hectic – 1pt e/w @ 25/1 with Boylesports

For today's horse racing tips, our analyst James Boyle looks at the flat racing meetings at Haydock and Doncaster with three selections online.

As always, you’ll find up-to-date odds at the bookmakers, but our tipster’s predictions are researched early in the day and those prices could soon be moved in by the betting public. 

Odds stated are correct at the time of publishing, but check out today's racecards for all the latest movements. 

14:10 Haydock – Sacred Falls – 1pt @ 7/2

Sacred Falls was quietly progressive last season, winning a handicap off 65 and placing on five other occasions. It’s tough to know how much more scope remains but she’s only a four-year-old and Rossa Ryan is booked to ride for the first time, which could help to eke out a length or two.

She reappeared at Southwell recently and shaped well under very tender handling. I’m not sure that All-Weather racing really suits her anyway and she’ll be happier on turf. Deep ground is no problem at all and if she gets into a nice rhythm, she’ll be in with a chance of winning late on.

14:45 Haydock – Tacarib Bay – 1pt @ 5/1

Tacarib Bay has faced plenty of tough tasks in his career to date and hasn’t found winning all that easy. However, three visits to Haydock have yielded a maiden win over 6f, a handicap win over 7f off today’s mark of 103 and a second in a Group 3 behind future Group 1 winner Triple Time.

It’s only four runs since he scored in a Listed race at Newcastle and his runs since have been respectable. The trip was too far at Wolverhampton last month when behind Kingdom Come and he’ll be happier with this 7f test. The ground is fine and he has a class edge over much of the field.

18:40 Doncaster – Hectic – 1pt e/w @ 25/1

Hectic is easily capable of competing with the best of these on the peak of his form and he’s a big price if able to bring that level to the table. Whether he can is questionable, however, as he has changed yards over the winter and didn’t look in good form at Southwell recently.

He wasn’t disgraced all the same and may not have enjoyed the artificial surface, so I’m hoping we’ll see him step up now returned to turf. His fitness is likely to have come on anyway, with many of the yard’s runners seeming badly in need of a run, and I think he’ll enjoy straight track sprinting.

The best of his runs last season came at this time of year on heavy ground at Newbury when only just touched off by Scholarship and he’s 4lbs lower today, so has no handicapping excuses. The risk lies in whether he can get to his best level of form again but I’ll take a chance given the price.

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