26-06-2025
Horse racing tips: Thursday, June 26
It's the first day of Newcastle's Northumberland Plate meeting, so there's a decent card at the Gosforth Park track. There's also a Listed race on Newmarket's July course, with the Empress Stakes for the two-year-old fillies having been moved from its usual Saturday slot.
Ron Wood has a fancy in the latter contest and a NAP selection in a good handicap at Newcastle.
Ron Wood's selections
Odds provided by William Hill and correct at the time of writing. Stars denote strength of selection (max 5).
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3.35 Newmarket – Empress Fillies' Stakes (Listed, 6f)
It's hard to know what MIDNIGHT TANGO achieved in a Hamilton maiden on her second start, but she won despite making an awkward start and taking a keen hold.
She looked held heading into the closing stages, which would have been no surprise given her early exertions, so it was striking how strongly she finished to be well on top at the line.
Midnight Tango is a well-bred runner who goes for Ed Walker, who trained the 9/1 winner of this race last year, a filly who had a similar profile.
Walker teamed up with the selection's jockey, Kieran Shoemark, for two big-priced winners at Royal Ascot last week, and this one is open to plenty of improvement if she can become more professional.
3.45 Newcastle – Class 2 Handicap (1m)
GODWINSON (NAP) hasn't been seen since narrowly winning the Lincoln handicap on his seasonal reappearance at Doncaster in March, but he goes particularly well when fresh and this test looks like suiting him. And he can rate higher still.
He's a late-May foal who has had just 10 starts, for a patient trainer, and he's a half-brother to Tiber Flow, a Group 3 winner at Newcastle for the same connections. His dam also won at Group 3 level.
Therefore the surface should suit him and the stiff finish can also play to his off-the-pace style, especially as he stays a little further than the one-mile trip.
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Today's UK and Irish racing
(Flat unless stated)
Newmarket 1.50-5.20
Newcastle 2.00-6.05
Nottingham 2.12-5.07
Hamilton 5.45-8.45
Leicester 6.00-9.00
What does NAP mean?
NAP is a word used in betting circles to describe a prediction that a tipster thinks has a particularly strong chance of winning.
Many horse racing tipsters pick out a 'NAP of the day', which is their favoured selection from all the races across the different meetings.
The term NAP derives from the French card game Napoleon. When players of this game thought they had a particularly strong hand that they would win with, they would shout 'Napoleon'.
What is an each-way bet?
An each-way bet is a popular type of wager, particularly with horse racing fans. It is essentially two bets, both of which have the same size stake.
An each-way bet features one bet on the selection to win and the other bet on the selection to place.
So a £10 each-way bet will cost you a total of £20. There will be one £10 bet on the selection to win and another £10 on the selection to place.
It's a popular bet because it offers punters the chance of a return, even if the horse in question fails to win. Bookmakers will pay out at a stated percentage of the odds for a place finish, for example one-fifth of the starting price (SP) for finishing in the first three.
The more runners there are in a horse race, the more places will be on offer. In races that feature lots of runners, the horses will be available at bigger odds, making an each-way bet a wise choice.
Ron Wood 2025 horse racing P/L
Star ratings explained
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - confident selection
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - strong fancy
⭐⭐⭐ - fair claims
⭐⭐ - tentative choice
⭐ - minimum confidence
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