In the Sunracing.co.uk Handicap (2.20) at Southwell on New Year’s Day, Angel Palanas proved no match for Black Salt over 6 furlongs at the Nottinghamshire track two weeks ago, but the latter has won both starts on Fibresand with plenty in hand and looks one to follow. Angel Palanas has been raised 2lb for that effort, but won easily on his previous start, over course and distance, the previous week and, even in this slightly higher grade, deserves another chance to confirm that promise.

Karl Burke’s five-year-old has been a regular at Southwell over the last twelve months or so, winning four of his twelve starts, including twice over course and distance, and appears to be at the top of his game at present. He’ll need to be, to record his first win in 0-95 company off a career-high mark of 81, but has made good progress since returned to Fibresand in November and may not have finished yet.

Middleham Moor trainer Karl Burke has a highly respectable 12-53 (23%) strike rate with his older horses at Southwell over the last five seasons, for a healthy level stakes profit of 35.83 points, and Angel Palanas looks to have every chance of improving that record. The Mayson gelding has struck up a good relationship with apprentice Jonathan Fisher and the partnership may, once again, be able to show some exposed rivals a clean pair of heels.

Selection: Southwell 2.20 Angel Palanas to win

It wasn’t all that long ago that Areen Heart was the apple of Richard Fahey’s eye and, although the Exceed And Excel gelding hasn’t quite hit the heights that the Musley Bank trainer perhaps thought he might earlier in his career, he has, at least, made up into a consistent, albeit modest, handicapper. The four-year-old lines up in the Sunracing.co.uk Handicap at Lingfield on Wednesday and appears to have every chance of recording his second course and distance win.

Areen Heart took a few runs to find his form following his transfer to David O’Meara just over a year ago but, following a 171-day break, has run well more than not since returning to action in May. Indeed, he deserves a change of fortune, having been beaten three-quarters of a length, a neck and a neck on his last three outings, including in a better race than this over course and distance three starts ago. At 4-1 it looks like good value to us, and you can sign up here if you’re looking to place a bet with an online bookmaker. He’s actually 3lb better off for the short head he finished in front of Breaking Records when they were second and third, respectively, behind Dubai One in a similar race at Wolverhampton 11 days ago so, granted luck in running, he should confirm the form with that rival.

With the possible exception of topweight Belle Meade, who’s now 14lb higher in the weights than when last winning a handicap and has run poorly on both attempts on Polytrack, nothing else really makes much appeal. Areen Heart remains competitively weighted and, despite his recent bout of ‘seconditis’, can gain an overdue win.

Selection: Lingfield 1.10 Areen Heart to win 4/1

The Betway Handicap (2.40) at Lingfield on Tuesday is the best race of the afternoon, in terms of quality, at the Surrey track and, with most of his rivals yet to win in this grade, may present topweight Breden with an opportunity to gain recompense for a luckless run, over a mile, on his last visit to the course in April. On that occasion – on his first run back from 173-day break following a wind operation – Linda Jewell’s 8-year-old was denied a clear run from the two-furlong marker, but when finally in the clear, in the last hundred yards or so, ran on strongly to finish third, beaten two heads, behind the winner, Unforgiving Minute. That performance came off a handicap mark of 86 and, having won comfortably over the straight mile at Newbury in the summer, Breden races off a 3lb higher mark.

The son of multiple Group 1 winner Shamardal steps back up to a mile and a quarter, but has won a couple of times over that distance on turf and, reunited with Robert Winston – who won on him at Newbury – must surely find this an easier assignment than when down the field, at odds of 50/1, in the Silver Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on his last appearance in September. Of course, his 53-day absence isn’t ideal, but he won after a longer break at Newbury and his previous course form suggests he’s well treated on his return to Polytrack and if winning is matters to you a visit to Online Casino Deutschland wouldn’t go a miss!  In a small field, a slowly-run, ‘messy’ race is always a possibility, but Breden appears versatile, tactically, and can strike a blow for his small, dual-purpose trainer.

Selection: Lingfield 2.40 Breden to win 6/1

Betting can be a matter of fine margins, as my fingernails will attest to! You can see this of course with casinos, where the ‘house edge’ isn’t all that significant, but due to how a person gambles (and how much they gamble on each bet) it can directly feed into their success or otherwise. At the roulette wheel, which is fixed odds and has a very small house edge, if you spend your time placing a small percentage of your bank on each event, you’re more likely to leave a happy man than if you randomly lump on a high percentage your banking bank – then inevitably hit a bad run. So strategy matters, and along with that any ‘edge’ you can gain. Funnily enough, one of the ‘edges’ I discovered at my local casino is a tie in with the Great Yarmouth racecourse. Essentially it’s a perk / bonus, in that if you pay to go into the racecourse you get a free £5 bet and drink at the casino.

This perk is not dissimilar to betting bonuses available with UK bookmakers. These take on a few forms, of which a common type of betting bonus, or ‘welcome offer’, goes along these lines: Place a £20 bet and get another £20 bet for free. So essentially a ‘like for like’, where your commitment to place a bet of a certain value sees you rewarded with a bet of the same amount, up to say £20 or £30 on some occasions. Other forms of free bets or bonuses include an outright free bet where you make no commitment to spend your own money initially. This can be one bet, or split across multiple smaller free bet opportunities. Some welcome bonuses are a half way house of, say bet £10 and get £30 free, so once you’ve ‘put your money where your mouth is’ you see a good reward for doing so. You can find the best horse racing offers at horseracingbetting.co.uk . It can be both valuable and useful to compare and contrast welcome offers.

Another plus of signing up for a welcome bonus or promotion is that often these perks are ongoing. I was with one bookmaker that would call from time to time with a free bet offer. It wasn’t even advertised anywhere, it appeared to be specific to my betting account. These perks are not uncommon with bookmakers, and competition between them has really ramped up over the years. ‘Best Odds‘ guarantees are commonplace now, so there’s less worry about not getting the biggest betting price possible. There are ‘odds boost’ type offers too, where you receive better odds than you typically would on certain events (typically horse racing and football). Again this can be a huge plus where we’re talking about finding ‘value’ in your bets,  and boosting your winnings. That can make make a serious monetary difference considering what can be won as a horse racing punter, especially on accumulator bets. Best odds and odds boost type features are definitely a useful tool to utilise in scenarios like that.

With horse racing, it you analyse the form closely or have an innate awareness of ‘value’, you’re one step ahead of the competition as it is (and this is something that those into ‘fixed odds’ betting events can’t really take advantage of).  So when adding  these bonuses and boosts into the equation , it really can make a difference. All in all, this isn’t something that those who enjoy a bet should allow themselves to overlook!