talkSPORT have you covered with free horse racing tips and free bets on Thursday’s fixtures at Sandown for two Group contests and a fascinating listed race.
Tom Lunn has gone through the cards, form, going and much more to help guide your horse racing betting choices.
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Thursday horse racing tips
- SANDOWN
6.35: Clear Force 13/8 (1pt)
7.05: Trawlerman 5/6 (2pts)
7.35: Military Order 9/2 (1pt) & Cicero’s Gift 18/1 each-way (1pt)
Clear Force
Runaway winner last time out at Ripon and should have a big say up into this Class 1 listed contest.
The two-year-old placed a respectable second on debut but clearly could have needed that run before winning by over four lengths last time out.
First Legion is just about the favourite having won on debut at York in a Class 2, but that was over 6f so needs that pace again dropping back to the bigger sprint of 5f.
The Mehmas colt won just two weeks ago and scooped the £15k prize for trainer Richard Hannon, who’s been having a great and busy start to the summer.
So much so in fact if you backed all his 20 two-year-olds this season (from January 2025) to now you’d be up £8.94 to a £1 level stake.
For more perspective, that drops to -£37.15 with his three-year-old runners.
Clear Force beat Secret Hideaway, who herself went on to win next time out at York in a hotly contested listed fillies stakes at 33/1 boosting this tip’s chances considerably.
Trawlerman
William Buick has had a very strong start to the season with considerably more big winners at this stage than last year.
Charlie Appleby’s crop have started to produce big runs early on but this time it’s another Godolphin trainer, John & Thady Gosden who have the favourite in a big group contest, Trawlerman.
The seven-year-old has been very consistent in his 19 races under rules, scooping over £1m in earnings.
He’s been lightly raced since 2024 though, only being seen four times from March onwards at Meydan and Ascot.
The gelding placed close behind Kyprios on both outings at Ascot and still looks a similar kind of horse he was when winning three in a row in 2023 – including beating Kyprios in the 2m Long Distance Cup.
And I’m struggling to see any other angle than the Godolphin blue storming home.
Military Order & Cicero’s Gift
Appleby is operating at an incredible strike rate of 45% in the last two weeks coming into this meeting, while Buick has won nine of his last 35 rides, at 26%.
So it’s worth considering both trainer’s runners Military Order and Ancient Wisdom.
Military Order has been a tricky one only ran ten times but the majority have come, recently, in big events including the Derby back in 2023.
Being gelded back in September of that year seemed to do the trick too as he won the Group 3 Winter Derby Stakes at Southwell.
Struggled next time out at Longchamp in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt.
He was then absent for over a year before returning and won the Magnolia Stakes (a listed contest at Kempton) in April to give him a real chance of showing what he’s capable of this season.
He’s a bit of a punt given his tendency to produce the odd poor run but five wins in ten is admirable – just like his 9/2 price which could easily go higher.
Cicero’s Gift is a bit of a punt each-way to have two selections for this race, but is often worth doing so when finding the right bets.
This gelding ran on strongly under Jason Watson here last month, when placing third behind Dancing Gemini.
He had initially been right out at the back and despite struggling for the right kind of running room, having an awkward head carriage buckled down in the end to get third.
That was eye-catching enough to suggest 1m2f could be ideal for him and that 18/1 is a massive price, especially if you can get extra places.
The five-year-old should also be benefitting from having his second run after a wind op which can often produce an improvement in performance.
Tom Lunn’s Horse Racing Profit & Loss
- April ’25: +28.79pts
- From Nov ’24: +94.3pts
- From May ’24: +248.25pts
- From July ’23: +387.72pts
All odds correct at time of writing
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