Welcome to our horse racing preview and betting tips for racing on Friday, January 31st.
The final weekday of racing takes us to Taree and Bathurst, before another big weekend.
Luke Krahe has provided his best bets for Friday afternoon below!
Horse Racing Tips: Friday, January 31st
Taree Race 3 - (Market)
(2) Hidden Hills is going to start a short priced favourite here, but I am not keen to take those poison odds from the extreme draw and trying to find some value. (4) Cairo Heat hasn’t exactly lit the track on fire at his two career starts, but I think there is plenty of improvement left in him. He debuted at Tuncurry in December, was never in the race and beaten out of sight. He had three weeks off and then stepped up to 1500m at Port Macquarie, settled a little closer but was over-racing back on the inside and although he was beaten almost 4 lengths, he was ok through the line. He gets out to the mile and the blinkers on, Matty Paget rides and at the huge odds, is worth a little something each-way.
Taree Race 6 - (Market)
(1) Bill ‘n’ Ted is first-up today after having 30 weeks off. He has placed at two previous fresh runs and has trialed well in preparation for this. He was placed at Wyong then ran third on the Beaumont, the confidence levels will grow if there is money for him from this stable. He has versatility but I expect that he will be better than mid-field in the run and finishing too well. This looks no harder than what he had been racing prior to the long break.
Bathurst Race 1 (Market)
(2) Gogh Fox is from the Richard and Michael Freedman yard and showed very little at his first prep before going to the paddock. The closest he got in three starts was 5.5 lengths at a Kembla maiden at 20/1. He was off the scene for 5 months, and resumed at Nowra on a heavy track a fortnight ago. He got a mile back and then got wide when making a run, got to the line well in a race where it was more favourable to be up on the speed. He goes from 1000m to 1300m today and is well drawn, expect him to settle closer and gets back on top of the ground. It looks a weak race, he has plenty of improvement and the stable is going well.
Bathurst Race 6 - (Market)
(3) Express Princess is another from the Freedman yard, she looks our banker for the day and anything around the even money mark looks a steal. She was slowly away two starts back at Canberra and was only fair to the line in a race that favoured on-pacers. She then went to Nowra on a heavy track and led them up, kicked into the straight and never looked like getting run down. She has to step out of maiden grade and into a very winnable BM58, if she shows that same speed again on top of the ground, find your bookie at about the 200m mark.
(3) Express Princess
$1.80
