Wolverhampton set for bumper Saturday card

Racing gets underway at 4.15pm with an apprentice handicap in class six before the card comes to a close just over four hours later at 8.20pm when a field of eight take on the one mile handicap in division two of class five. 

Read below to discover the latest tips and a full preview of the Wolverhampton card on Saturday courtesy of Sporting Life.

The opening contest of the evening sees eight runners pitch up at the start for the class six apprentice handicap over the one and a half furlong trip (4.15). The vote goes to Mr Nugget, who took a step forward when runner-up on his second start in handicap company at Southwell and his best days should still be ahead of him. Handicap-debutant Incan Empire is very much of interest and will be all the more appealing if the market speaks in his favour. 

Race two on the Wolverhampton card (4.50) is a one mile and one furlong handicap in class six. The most appealing of these is the in-form Union Island for trainer Charlie Johnston, who wasn't ideally positioned when the race began in earnest at Chelmsford recently and did well to finish as close as he did. The four-year-old  shapes as though well worth a try over this trip and remains well-treated by the handicapper heading here. 

A novice decidedly lacking in depth marks the third race of the evening (5.20), with Stifling hard to oppose for the John & Thady Gosden team on the back of her promising comeback second following a lengthy absence at Newcastle last month, while Kylian rates just the pick of the weights in race four (5.50) so is taken to follow up his recent Lingfield success and edge out hat-trick seeking Michaela's Boy in the class two handicap over five furlongs.

A case can be made for many of the 12 runners in the class four handicap over seven furlongs in race five (6.20) but Thapa VC, trained by Mark Rimell, just missed out at Lingfield last time and this multiple course and distance winner edges the vote.

A division one classified stakes is race six of the Wolverhampton card (6.50) and Back Tomorrow, hailing from the Ewan Whillians yard, has thrived in recent weeks, landing back-to-back C&D contests and she's a big player once again. The hat-trick seeking Match Anthem rates the main danger in this one.

Division two of the same discipline marks race seven of the evening (7.20) where Piperstown is two from his last three starts and takes on mostly out-of-form sorts, so he's the obvious choice in this six furlong contest, while the penultimate race of the day (7.50) can go the way of Straight A, who rates just the pick of the weights so edges the vote ahead of fellow course scorer Saturnalia. 

Finally, the Saturday card comes to a close with the eight-runner class five handicap at 8.20, with preference in the finale heading the way of Kracking, who has shaped better than the result on his last two starts and might not face too much pressure for the lead down in class here.

Wolverhampton selections - Saturday

4.15 - Mr Nugget

4.50 - Union Island

5.20 - Stifling

5.50 - Kylian

6.20 - Thapa VC

6.50 - Back Tomorrow

7.20 - Piperstown

7.50 - Straight A

8.20 - Kracking