Scone Preview May 12 – Friday Best Bets & Tips

Scone Tips 12/05/2023

Our form expert provides Scone tips for today’s horse racing at Scone Racecourse and gives his best bets.

BEST BET 🏆

Race 6:  No.11  RUSSLEY CROWN  ($3.40 with Palmerbet)

Locally-trained by Scott Singleton, RUSSLEY CROWN is back in the groove this preparation and will take beating here. Last start, the Shamus Award gelding jumped from the car park (gate 16) and still managed to beat all but one home in the Northern Champ Wild Card, here over 1400m. Rachael Murray pushed forward to lead on settling and where the four-year-old did a mighty job to go down by less than a length on the line in the 16-strong field. He draws far better in gate three today and has Christian Reith returning for the ride, after steering him to victory two starts back at Mudgee. He’ll do less early work here as he maps to settle on the speed and rock-hard fit after four starts back, he looks the testing material in this contest.

NEXT BEST 🥈

Race 8:  No.7  NOSEY PARKER  ($6.60 with BoomBet)

The Paul Perry-trained NOSEY PARKER has racked-up five podium finishes in as many starts this time in and looks poised to bring up a third-straight win here today. Last start, the Choisir gelding came off a Class 1 win and then franked that victory when he clobbered a Class 1 Midway Hcp field over 1250m at Newcastle. Drawn wide that day (gate 9 of 10), he settled last in the 10-strong field. On straightening, Blake Spriggs kept him glued to the fence and soon after, he had passed them all and giving nothing else a chance, went on to put six lengths on them over the line. It’s hard to ignore form like that and although he steps up in grade today, he is drawn well in gate six and has Spriggs sticking with him for this assignment. This winning combination can easily strike again today.

BEST VALUE 💰 

Race 4:  No.1  CHEVRON  ($9 with bet365) 

The Kristen Buchanan-trained CHEVRON is second-up today and now has enough racing behind him to be a real threat here. Last start, the Spieth colt resumed from a nine-week spell when he finished fifth in a Two-Year-Old contest over 1000m at Muswellbrook. Sent out a $2.30 favourite, he lumped 59kgs and came from well back to be beaten less than three lengths in the run home. That was the ‘warm-up’ run. He is well drawn here in gate five but it is a little difficult to work out where he should settle with almost half the field being first starters. With a couple of gear changes here and Chad Schofield in the saddle for the first time, he still looks in the mix and good odds are currently on offer about him.