William Hill Racing League: Weather couldn’t dampen spirits at Doncaster

Movers & Shakers

The second instalment of the William Hill Racing League proved that the competitions opener at Newcastle was no fluke with great racing and entertainment from the off. Now, it’s the turn of Lingfield to showcase the William Hill Racing League with the leaderboard starting to take shape!

Going into Doncaster, Newmarket Red were clear at the top of the table but unfortunately, they weren’t able to match their consistency of week one and go into week three in seventh place after mustering just 29 points from the night. They were replaced by Team Racehorse Lotto in first place, who had a consistent night and built on their third-place finish from week one.

Team Bullionvault were also able to build on their strong opener and now sit in second place with Team Oddsbible just four points off them in third. Hot on the tails of the top three are Team talkSPORT, Team ThoroughBid, and Team Swish who are all square on 108 points and seeking to mount a serious challenge for medal positions this Thursday at Lingfield.

Team Swish was aided on the night by an in-form Saffie Osbourne who took the opener on Tanaya Cannon with a brilliant ride. If she brings that same level of confidence with her to Lingfield then she and Team Swish will be a force to be reckoned with on the night. Saffie currently sits at the top of the jockey’s standings on 87 points and the competition will be fierce with her rivals wanting to take the top spot.

Who to watch in week 3

Racing managers will have had their work cut out this week trying to plan for Thursday night as the racing has been switched from the turf to the all-weather due to bad weather, and there could be a few surprises in store. After finding some form last week, Team Ireland could continue that momentum after a disappointing opening instalment at Newcastle, and Team Swish will be popular among fans again with some nice chances.

The pick of those could be Brains, who goes in the fourth race of the night. He returned to action at Bath last week fresh from a short lay-off. He finished second that day and bar the bounce back factor he could go close and get his head in front at Lingfield at 6/1.

Team ThoroughBid have elected to turn out Typhoon Ten again here on the back of a disappointing effort at Doncaster last Thursday. The Richard Hannon-trained gelding drops down to his preferred trip of six-furlongs and should give a better account of himself than he did last week. At 15/2 there could be some value in Hayley Turners mount, who has returned a silver medallist on the last three occasions he’s tackled this trip.

Rules Reminder

Each of the 12 teams has one runner in each of the six races, with each race being worth 100 points. The winner taking 25, the second taking home 18 and so on until you reach 10th place, who are awarded a solitary point. It is up to the teams and their managers to decide where they think their best horses have the best chance, just like any normal race, and come week 4 there will be a change to the roster of horses in order to keep legs fresh.

Throughout the six weeks, the six races are worth £50,000 in total, meaning over the course of the competition there will be a total of £1.8million distributed in prize money, but that’s not all. The winning team will benefit from a bonus of £150,000, so it really will pay to be at the top of that leaderboard when the time comes.

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