HAYDOCK, 8 August — Five horses went to post for the Betway Leigh Handicap (13:50), and the one nobody wanted won it. Lc Tiffen, sent off at 80/1 under 5lb claimer Molly Gunn, beat 4/1 chance Saxophonist with Brighton View — backed off the boards from 10/11 in the morning to 2/5 at the off — only third. In a five-runner race, the shortest-priced horse finished behind the longest-priced one, and a lot of Saturday accumulators died before two o’clock.
The Result
| Pos | Horse | Jockey | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Lc Tiffen | Molly Gunn (5) | 80/1 |
| 2nd | Saxophonist | Daniel Tudhope | 4/1 |
| 3rd | Brighton View | Oisin Murphy | 2/5 fav |
5 ran (Claytons Kolatonic a non-runner). Time: 2m 12.88s over 1m 2f 42y. Going: good, good to firm in places.
The Race Story
Everything about the morning pointed one way. Brighton View, with Oisin Murphy up, was the solid opening leg of countless multiples — this site’s included — and the market treated the Class 5 three-year-old handicap as a formality, crunching Murphy’s mount from 10/11 into 2/5. The race told a different story: it was the L Williamson stable’s Lc Tiffen, receiving a valuable 5lb from her young rider’s claim, who passed the post first in 2m 12.88s, with Daniel Tudhope’s mount Saxophonist taking second at 4/1.
For Molly Gunn, an 80/1 winner live on a big Saturday afternoon is the kind of result apprentice careers are built on. For the punters piling into an odds-on poke in a five-horse race, it is the oldest lesson in the book, freshly administered.
Tipster Accountability
Richard Gore’s verdict in the Haydock preview — “BRIGHTON VIEW to get the acca off to a solid start” — could hardly have aged worse: the four-timer he built around it was dead at the first leg. Templegate’s race-by-race Haydock line was the same beaten favourite at 8/13, though his three tracked ledger bets — next best, NAP and treble leg — are all at Ascot today, so his 11-unit bank survives this one untouched. The full tracked-tipster table is in the day-one review.
Looking Ahead
Haydock’s card continues with the 15:34 Ashton Heath Handicap, where the preview sides with Moonshine while Templegate is on Crimson Spirit at 2/1 — a rare split between the two. Race-by-race verdicts for the rest of the card, including Norfolk Blue in the 16:09, are in the Haydock preview.
