System Betting – Horse Racing Tips

Newmarket handler Mark Tompkins could barely hide his pleasure at the return to form of his useful performer Ted Spread who ran his best race for some time when only just failing to land the spoils in the listed Totepool Pontefract Castle Stakes at the West Yorkshire track earlier this week, writes Elliot Slater.

The gelded son of Beat Hollow had been considered a classic contender at one stage last term when beating Icon Dream in a fine finish to the Group 3 Chester Vase after which he took his chance in the Derby, running well for a while before patently failing to handle the downhill run to Tattenham Corner after which he faded rapidly and eventually finished 11th behind the impressive Workforce. Anyone following the horseracing odds would have been surprised to see him fail so badly.

That effort seemed to take its toll of Tompkins’ charge who finished a distant fourth to Rewilding in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes before completely losing his way in finishing last in the St Leger and being tailed off on two subsequent outings at the end of the season. Gelded during the winter, Ted Spread hadn’t been seen in action until his Pontefract reappearance where he happily showed all his old zest and, after being held up at the back of the field for the first half of the contest, came with a strong run through the last furlong-and-a-half which all but carried him to victory, in the end failing by only a nose to get the better of Distant Memories in a tremendous finish to the 12-furlong contest. The online horse racing betting indicates Ted Spread could be heading back to his best.

Buoyed by the return to form of the four-year-old, Tompkins is now eyeing a crack at the Ebor Handicap at York on August 20, seeing the mile-and-three-quarter trip as the ideal distance for his charge who could well be set to atone for the disappointments of the second half of last term.