Best bets from Timeform analysts at Newbury, Newmarket and Dundalk

HAVANA BLUE 14:10 Newmarket (Greg Spink)

A low-key weekend before York’s flagship meeting and it’s the novelty grey horse handicap which caught my eye for this week’s selection. Havana Blue isn’t a regular in the winners’ enclosure, his last win coming almost 2 years ago to the day in fact, but Julie Camacho’s 6-y-o has been well and truly knocking at the door in recent weeks. He finished runner-up twice at Ascot over 7f in July before making it a hat-trick of seconds over C&D last Friday, having the race won just about everywhere but the last few strides. Several of these are regular faces in this but Havana Blue could well prove a class apart and at odds of around 5/2 at the time of writing, he looks worthy of a wager.

SCOVILLE - 14:35 Newbury (Pat Jupp)

Scoville appeals as one who is in far better heart than his recent form figures suggest, seventh in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot, but third home in his group and also faring much the best of those ridden prominently. He arguably again had too much use made of him when poorly draw in the Golden Mile at Goodwood, and he’ll surely find this field easier to dominate than those ultra-competitive events, especially as there aren’t that many other obvious pace angles. The drop back to 7f looks a positive move and he’s been eased a couple of pounds in the weights, too, so a bold showing is expected.

EABHA - 15.13 Newmarket (James Cooper)

A blip on her second start when failing to land the odds at Chepstow aside, it’s been all positive for Eabha in her four-race career. With her debut form working out well, Eabha was nicely on top at the line in maiden company at Epsom last month and given a pair of next-time-out winners came from that race, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Eabha found another jolt of improvement when following up switched to a nursery over this course and distance a week ago. The timefigure provides extra substance to that victory so the hat-trick beckons.

SQUEEZEBOX - 16:05 Perth (Kieran Clarke)

National Hunt racing returns to Britain today following a short summer break and the highlight on the Perth card is a competitive two-mile handicap hurdle, one that should be run at a brisk gallop with last-time-out winners Fidendum and Scriabin in the line-up. With that in mind, preference is for Squeezebox who seemed a free-going type when initially switched to hurdling but has looked a reformed character since being held up, winning on the bridle on his penultimate start before running a cracker when placed in the Summer Plate.

The latter effort is very much supported by the timefigure and a repeat of that should be good enough to go very close with the run of the race in his favour once more.

GREAT BEDWYN - 16:20 Newbury (Rory King)

Great Bedwyn mightn’t have won since his reappearance in 2025 but this looks a good opportunity to put that right. His runner-up finishes at Kempton and York this spring are both strong bits of form and, as he did for those 2 runs, he arrives on the back of a break of more than 5 weeks, a shorter turnaround quite possibly a contributing factor to one of his lesser efforts since. Having been undone by the drop to a mile and a quarter last time this return to a galloping mile and a half should be very much in his favour – he overcame adversity to win a similar race over course and distance from this very mark 2 summers ago – while the presence in the saddle of Seamus Cronin – a claimer who’s beginning to make a bit of a name for himself – for the first time is another tick in the box.

SLIEVE BINNIAN - 16:35 Dundalk (Billy Nash)

The Red God handicap is the feature on a rare Saturday afternoon card at Dundalk and one that makes plenty of appeal in it is polytrack specialist Slieve Binnian. Successful on four of his six starts at this track (in frame on other two), David Marnane's charge has taken a while to find his form this year but has started to fall in the weights as a result. He is now 5lb below his last winning mark and hinted as if on the way back when beaten just over four lengths by Thread of Gold in the Nasrullah at Leopardstown last time, form that has been boosted since.

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