Friday’s racing tips: Best bets and odds at Ascot and Haydock

Friday’s Racing Tips

Arctic Thunder (Ascot, 16.48) – 1pt win @ 7/1 bet365

Luansobe (Ascot, 17.25) – 1pt win @ 7/2 bet365

Kodi Lion (Haydock, 15.15) – 1pt each-way @ 6/1 William Hill

Creative Queen (Haydock, 15.47) – 1pt win @ 6/1 Paddy Power

Ascot Hospitality Handicap (16.48, Ascot)

Trainer Ed Walker has got ARCTIC THUNDER in tremendous form at present and the gelded son of Night Of Thunder looks set to complete a hat-trick in this usually competitive handicap.

The five-year-old has gone from strength to strength recently, having slipped in the handicap following a poor start to 2026.

Dropping to a Class 3 contest at Salisbury in July, he raced prominently before romping home from a small field by 7L (1m, good to firm) to put up his best effort for over a year.

He then proved that was no fluke when reaching the dizzy heights of a career best at Haydock (1m, good) last time. On that occasion he was held up and produced to win readily by Kieran Shoemark.

The handicapper hasn’t missed that, raising him 8lb but his trainer has responded by putting a 3lb claimer up and, if he can reproduce that sort of an effort now back up in grade for this 0-105, then he should prove tough to topple.

Sodexo Live! Handicap (17.25, Ascot)

Several with claims in this and I like the look of LUANSOBE for the in-form team of Charlie Fellowes.

The three-year-old has, it’s fair to say, so far been inconsistent. He began with a good effort when second at Kempton (7f, AW), before being well below par at Newmarket (7f, good).

He then arrived at Wolverhampton (7f, AW) with low expectations and duly obliged at 40/1, showing a good attitude when challenged at the business end of that contest.

The handicapper appeared to overestimate his abilities following that win and put him on a mark of 80 for his handicap debut at York (7f, good) in May, when he was 14/1 with online bookies and never a serious player.

Gelded shortly after that, he was given some time off and that looked to have paid dividends when he came here in July and was arguably a little unlucky not to have won (C&D, good to firm), having to wait for room until a furlong or so out and then coming home well to be a ½L third.

That was a career best effort and, although he’s gone up 3lb, he is unexposed and looks like he can now begin to properly improve and today looks like a good time to catch him.

Oakmere Homes Handicap (15.15, Haydock)

These big field sprints at Haydock aren’t the easiest, especially when conditions are on the soft side and even more so when nothing in the line up looks to be in red hot recent form.

However, I’d like to make a case for KODI LION, who has some big recent numbers against his name, underlining the fact that he’s not been winning much of late.

Despite that, he does love this venue and although he’s not won on soft ground, he’s been placed twice when conditions have been testing.

His latest success came over C&D in May of last year, when he came from stall 17. He’s drawn in 14 this time, which looks fine.

His recent efforts have largely been over 7f, a trip he has also won over but dropping him back to 6f on soft ground looks well worth as try.

Most attractive of all is his revised handicap mark, as the assessor has now dropped him to 84, which is the lowest he has been since April 2025.

That has allowed him to drop to this grade and I think we could see a return to better fortunes now that he is taking on horses inferior to those he’s been competing against for over a year.

I’d suggest taking an each-way price about him with online racing bookies, provided that proves financially sound when the market opens, i.e. provided his price merits that.

Aesterius At Bearstone Stud Handicap (15.47, Haydock)

Not the greatest race we’ll see at Haydock this year but it perhaps presents an opportunity for the William Haggas-trained CREATIVE QUEEN.

The Wathnan Racing-owned filly has been a bit on the inconsistent side but there are reasons to believe that she could come good again this time.

For starters, her sole win came over the similarly flat track that is Yarmouth (6f, soft; first-time blinkers) in May.

In that race she also proved she acts on the forecast ground at the Lancashire track, while she was not short of pace.

Although her next two handicap efforts saw her found wanting, she was back in better form at Ripon when dropped back to 5f (good) last month and bettered that when a close second at Yarmouth (5f, good to firm) last time, when blinkers were back on.

She’s sporting those again here and that, plus the combination of her proven ability on soft ground and her extra stamina, suggest that she could be the one for today.

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