Best Bets: Friday 14 August

LAKE MCKENZIE (Trap 6) – 17:22 Newcastle

The opening wager comes in the finale of Newcastle’s afternoon meeting, with LAKE MCKENZIE (T6) fancied to double his career tally in this A8 contest. Rough rides of late have led to some pretty uninspiring form figures, but today’s race looks void of early pace, so this is a chance for Lake Mckenzie to turn very handy, and if that proves to be the case, he should take some pegging back.

HOT SUMMER (Trap 2) – 18:36 Nottingham

HOT SUMMER’s (T2) losing sequence stretches back to the autumn, which even allowing for a spell off the track during the winter along with lockdown is a pretty lengthy time, but that could all change here. Normally a slow starter, Hot Summer showed a lot more zip last week, ultimately finishing fourth. That performance suggests she’s back in good nick and crucially, she now competes in this grade for the first time in her career. Essentially, she’s better than the opposition, all of whom are pretty exposed, so she should be backed accordingly.

SALACRES BADGER (Trap 6) – 20:27 Nottingham

There are some unknown quantities in this A5 affair, notably Hitthelids Kay (T2), who makes her debut in the blue jacket, but SALACRES BADGER (T6) rates the percentage call. It’s fair to say he’s been a little bit expensive to follow post-resumption, but as a back-to-back A4 scorer during the winter he certainly has it in him to win at this level and as the sole wide seed, the make-up of the race looks ideal.