Horse racing tips: James Boyle's best bets for Thursday

Horse racing tips today:

• 18:00 Chelmsford – Maxi Boy – 1pt @ 12/1 with William Hill
• 20:00 Chelmsford – Miss Marianne – 1pt @ 25/1 with Bet365

For today's horse racing tips, our analyst James Boyle looks at the flat racing meeting at Chelmsford with two selections now online.

As always, you’ll find up-to-date odds at the bookmakers, but our tipster’s predictions are researched early in the day and those prices could soon be moved in by the betting public. 

Odds stated are correct at the time of publishing, but check out today's racecards for all the latest movements. 

18:00 Chelmsford – Maxi Boy – 1pt @ 12/1

Maxi Boy has a poor strike-rate but finished in the top three on almost half of his 22 career starts. He just wasn’t handicapped too favourably for a long time and now that he’s down to a rating of 82, there’s every chance that he’ll be able to get his head in-front again before long.

His last two performances were flat but previous to them he had finished second over C&D, only beaten by an in-form, serial All-Weather winner. The cheekpieces worn on his last four starts are replaced by a first-time visor and if it has a positive effect, it could eke out improvement.

I like the booking of Hector Crouch, who is 14-82 (17% strike-rate) when riding for Michael Bell, and the yard’s horses tend to go better at this track than almost anywhere else. It’s a competitive affair but if the horse doesn’t overdo it in the more extreme headgear, he can get involved.

20:00 Chelmsford – Miss Marianne – 1pt @ 25/1

Miss Marianne is obviously limited, hence her lowly rating, but when she has got to lead in previous races, she has shown some promise. She had a poor racing position over C&D last time when slow from the gates but wasn’t on the track in six months and may have lacked for sharpness.

I thought it was encouraging to see her hitting the line well, beaten little more than a couple of lengths by the time they got to the post, and there’s every chance that she’ll strip fitter for the spin. With a quick break and a prominent sit, she’s capable of mixing it with this field despite the price.

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