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

Horse racing tips today:

• 14:45 Lingfield – King Cabo – 1pt @ 4/1 with William Hill
• 15:55 Lingfield – Rabinal – 1pt @ 5/1 with Unibet
• 18:30 Newcastle – Rum Runner – 1pt @ 22/1 with Bet365

For today's horse racing tips, our analyst James Boyle looks at the flat racing meetings at Lingfield and Newcastle 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. 

14:45 Lingfield – King Cabo – 1pt @ 4/1

King Cabo was a bigger price earlier but I still think it’s worth backing him. He flopped at Chelmsford last time, finding nothing in the straight, but stuck to the rail and that’s rarely where you want to be. All things considered, I’m happy enough to move on and just ignore that run.

His previous start came over this C&D, his first attempt in a sprint, and yielded a good third placed finish. He was just behind Muscika, with whom he’s 2lbs better off, and was also kept to the inside of the track. It’s less of a problem here but I’d prefer to be coming down the middle.

Another possible help is the booking of Ethan Jones, who is value for his 7lb claim. The horse can be on the keen side but is a strong traveller and likes to be forward in the field, so if he relaxes and isn’t far off the speed in the straight, I expect that he can prove tough to beat at this level.

15:55 Lingfield – Rabinal – 1pt @ 5/1

Rabinal got off the mark for Simon Dow at the fifth attempt when scoring over C&D last month and it wouldn’t be a surprise were he to follow up. I liked the way he travelled through that race, despite threatening to overdo it early on, and he showed a good attitude in the straight.

A 4lb rise is workable and the only thing I don’t like about the setting for this race is his draw out in gate 10. That is wider than ideal and Hollie Doyle will need to be at her best from an early stage, but a lot of those drawn to his inside want to be held up and that should aid his cause.

18:30 Newcastle – Rum Runner – 1pt @ 22/1

Rum Runner is into the veteran stage of his career and it’s interesting to note a visor being in use for the first time. As ever, it could be a positive or negative addition, but Geoff Harker’s runners tend to underperform in blinkers and overperform when the visor is being used.

Eight winners from 75 runs in a visor is 17 per cent over the expected level and although it may be a fanciful attempt to coax an older horse back to form, he is a strong traveller who has probably figured out how to avoid going through the pain barrier once a race gets tough. So headgear could help him.

In terms of his recent performances, he hasn’t been at his best following a two-month break. He wasn’t disgraced on either occasion, however, and could be reaching peak fitness again. His last win came at this level in August and he looks overpriced to repeat the trick.

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