Windsor best bets: Lexington Knight in bold bid, Lawn Ranger could defy each-way odds
- John Fearn
- 20 May 2024
Windsor racecourse receives its usual hour in the Monday evening sun, and this competitive middle-distance handicap has given our pundits plenty of food for thought.
19:40 Windsor: Follow Fitzdares On Instagram and Twitter Handicap (1 mile 3½ furlongs)
If we can believe everything the bookies tell us, then we should be in for a three-horse race, spearheaded by Michael Bell’s Incremental, who came a respectable third at Doncaster 18 days ago and is expected to go well again under the retained Oisin Murphy.
Course-and-distance winner Enthused is priced to run the favourite close of a dropping mark that is enhanced by his rider’s five-pound claim, but just getting our final nod is Lexington Knight, who has also tasted victory at this venue, albeit three years ago.
Since that success most of this six-year-old’s best work has been on synthetic tracks, although he did also visit Doncaster’s winner’s enclosure last June after landing a decent nine-runner handicap on similar good-to-firm ground that he will find here.
He was last seen finishing a promising third of six at Brighton a month ago, and he teams up now with the same Richard Hannon/Sean Levey partnership that landed a 66/1 shock with Ziggy’s Phoenix at Newmarket on Sunday.
Suggested best bet: Lexington Knight in the 19:40 at Windsor
- Tip advised by Elite Horse Tips on Tipstrr
With only the three market leaders commanding single-figure odds, there is plenty of scope for each-way profit among their 11 rivals, especially with four places widely available (even five in some quarters.
Course-distance winner Carp Kid is one who merits consideration following a decent runner-up spot on his seasonal bow at Bath a fortnight ago, while Rockit Tommy could also be under the radar after winning both of his only two previous outings this time last year before blowing away the cobwebs in his course-distance season debut here last month.
Planet Sport Bet Daily Special: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if Rockit Tommy finishes in the first 3 places, get a £5 Free Bet
Tipstrr’s each-way pundits appear torn between those two, Croeso Cymraeg and Lawn Ranger, and we’re plumping for the last of those in the hope that Michael Attwater’s seasoned nine-year-old will come on for his early-season pipe-opener on Kempton’s all-weather track earlier this month.
A five-time course winner in a wide variety of conditions, this versatile gelding last tasted success here towards the end of a productive campaign last August, having also won in much more testing conditions over the same 10-furlong trip in April (notably also after a similar modest early-season outing at Kempton).
Georgia Dobie’s three-pound allowance means that Lawn Ranger will be carrying at least a stone less than all but one of her 13 rivals (the exception being Carp Kid), and given how the young claimer guided 12/1 shot Betty Clover to victory in her only ride at the York Festival, she could well put her charge in the mix again here.
Each-way punt: Lawn Ranger in the 19:40 at Windsor
- Tip advised by DWL Tipsters on Tipstrr
