Ben Morgan’s Saturday tips – Musselburgh & Leopardstown – Maximus to be Star of the show?

Musselburgh 1.43 – A new Star is born

Because my mind is wired up solely around Horse Racing, as I drove past Guiting quarry in the Cotswolds on New Year’s Eve, my mind immediately shot to Nigel Twiston-Davies’ old inmate, STAR OF GUITING.

A queer twist of fate, as he was due to line up at Musselburgh on New Year’s Day, now under the care of Ewan Whillians.

It was one of those that I simply had to back as the ‘Stars’ had aligned as such and I would never forgive myself if he sluiced in unbacked.

This is exactly what he did, much to my disbelief, and he immediately went onto my shortlist for this race.

A 6lb rise for that effort is very fair and although he is up in grade here, I think he won with any amount in hand the last day and could be open to any amount of improvement now in the care of a new handler.

At around the 11/1 mark, he looks good value.

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Leopardstown 3.30 – National hero to strike Gold as well?

This looks a good opportunity to take on Galopin Des Champs with a slight doubt as to whether he still retains all of his ability.

Most of the field have marks against their name, so I’m not afraid to put something up at a decent price and I AM MAXIMUS fits that bill perfectly.

Prior to his last run, you would say he has always been outclassed at this level, but I’d argue how many of those runs was he actually tuned up for, as the National has been the aim for this horse the last two seasons (winning once, finishing second once).

It looked as if connections had him ready to run well the last day and he put in a much more impressive display, finishing second to Affordale Fury.

With recent downpours unlikely to affect him, I think he is the each way angle in this race and at 12/1 I am very keen to support him each way.

READ MORE: Ben Morgan’s Saturday tips – Cheltenham, Doncaster & Uttoxeter – Tornado to blow them away