ITV racing tips: Saturday April 12 – Ayr and Newbury

Saturday is packed with racing action, with a total of eight meetings across the UK and Ireland. The highest-quality cards are at Ayr, which features the Scottish Grand National, and on the Flat at Newbury. 

These two venues will have the ITV Racing cameras in attendance. Our expert has picked out four selections from these contests, which will be shown on the ITV1 broadcast from 1pm to 4pm. 

ITV Racing tips - Ayr and Newbury, April 12

• 2.15, Ayr – Ethical Diamond @ 9/4 with Betfair
• 2.35, Newbury – Chancellor @ 3/1 with Betfair
• 2.55, Ayr – Ruby Island @ 5/1 with Betfair
• 3.55, Ayr – Klarc Kent (each-way) @ 16/1 with Betfair

Odds provided by Betfair and correct at the time of writing.

If you already have a Betfair account and are looking for a new bookmaker to use for this week’s racing, check out our list of the best free bets. 

2.15, Ayr – Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle (Class 1, 2m)

With Willie Mullins’s stable in the hottest form, we are going to start with his gelding ETHICAL DIAMOND.

The five-year-old finished fourth in the County at Cheltenham last month. In his other race this year, he won by 10 lengths at Punchestown, with both of these successful runs over 2m. 

2.35, Newbury – Watership Down Stud Too Damn Hot Greenham Stakes (Class 1, 7f)

CHANCELLOR looks to be a colt with great potential and we are backing him to win this competitive contest.

This son of Kingman, trained by John and Thady Gosden, has won two of his three races. Both those victories came at Doncaster – and as he has had plenty of time to develop since his last run in August, we are expecting to see more progression. 

2.55, Ayr  UK Greentech Glasgow Seafield Trophy Mares’ Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, 3m)

We like the price for RUBY ISLAND in this all-female race. She won at this course last month in a 2m 5f hurdle and looks to have what it takes to handle this longer trip. 

In addition to that victory, she has two second-place finishes this year, with one of them at Ayr back in January. Overall, this eight-year-old has a great record on this track, finishing in the top two in four of her five runs here.  

3.55, Ayr – Coral Scottish Grand National Handicap Chase (Class 2, 4m)

We are taking an each-way chance on KLARC KENT in the Scottish Grand National. The Mullins yard dominated at Aintree in the equivalent English contest last week, so it is no surprise to see the trainer’s runners leading the betting north of the Border. 

The three shortest-priced horses are all trained by the Irishman, but we have gone for one of his outsiders, who finished fourth in this race last year, at SP odds of 50/1.

This time Klarc Kent is much shorter and rightly so. He has better terms of 13lb on the 2024 winner Macdermott than was the case last year. With Betfair paying six places on this race, he looks good value for at least a place finish. 

Odds provided by Betfair and correct at the time of writing.

• If you want to find more odds and offers, take a look at our list of the best betting sites