Ascot racing best bet: Rebel Intentions in good hands to land third season win
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Ascot’s Christmas weekend meeting kicks off with a cracking handicap hurdle, and Tipstrr racing expert Steve Jones expects a successful horse-jockey combination to produce another good performance.
12.45 Ascot: Howden Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (2 miles 5 furlongs 141 yards)
Joe Anderson rode the penultimate winner of this handicap, and he can win it again on Rebel Intentions, who has nothing to prove under this combination of conditions and who comes here as a progressive six-year-old.
Proven horse-jockey partnerships are always a good advantage in these races and Anderson rode Revel Intentions to win a handicap around this track just last month.
Planet Sport Bet: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if the favourite wins (including joint), get a £5 Free Bet
That was over the shorter 19.5-furlong trip (on soft) but Rebel Intentions had earlier won over today’s 21.5-furlong distance and has since proved his stamina for three miles.
Under Anderson, he won a 0-120 here last month, making every yard with his rider judging the pace perfectly.
Following that career-best performance, Rebel Intentions improved again in defeat as he finished a close-up third of nine in a three-mile handicap back here off a seven-pound higher mark.
With figures of 1213 since returning from his last break, the six-year-old is improving with every run and he will relish coming back here again for a third successive race.
Up just a couple of pounds from that last successful outing, Rebel Intentions has a good chance of landing a second course win in successive months.
Planet Sport Bet: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if the favourite wins (including joint), get a £5 Free Bet
Suggested bet: Rebel Intentions in the 12:45 at Ascot
- Tip advised by Steve Jones who runs CD Systems Daily Bargain on Tipstrr
Of the others, the only previous course-distance winner in the line-up, Fifty Ball, could well bounce right back to form for a return to this venue.
He has won two of his four hurdling runs, both of which came under Niall Houlihan, who partners him again today, and at nine pounds below that winning mark, Fifty Ball looks handicapped for a big run.
He ran a solid fifth of 14 in a much stronger 0-138 over this trip in April and the eight-year-old is now operating off five pounds lower in this weaker event, so he is entitled to go well on similar ground and with his yard amongst the winners.
Next best bet: Fifty Ball in the 12:45 at Ascot
READ MORE: Uttoxeter racing tips: Best bets for Friday December 22
