Sprint Specialiser secure August crown after late, late show

Published: 06/09/2019

Thanks to a spectacular late rally, Sprint Specialiser came from nowhere to claim the August Toptipster crown with a final tally of 59.95 points. Class 1 Racing finished second with a 34.45-point gain with TV Racing Tips and LB Tipster taking third and fourth.

These figures, though, tell only part of the story. For much of August, Class 1, TV Racing Tips and LB Tipster were engaged in a three-way battle for supremacy. Sprint Specialiser languished at the back of the field, but an astonishing four-day win-fest from 28 August that generated almost seventy points of profit secured an unlikely, but ultimately comfortable, win by more than 25 points.

A long-established service, Sprint Specialiser won the 2016 Toptipsters’ title and they came close in the last two years as well. This year started impressively: four successive profits ensured a commanding lead of more than 90-points by the end of April.

Since then, things haven’t gone to plan and the profit has gradually crumbled away. At the start of August, the one-time runaway leaders were down to third – the profit a modest 6.64 points.

August’s first 21 selections produced only two winners by which time the overall profit was history. Then, a complete turnaround. Holmeswood (7/1, Musselburgh, 28 August) started the revival. Two days later it was the turn of Kinglami. The ten-year-old veteran secured his 12th career success, winning at Wolverhampton at odds of 12/1, contributing almost 29-points to the Sprint Specialist coffers. Finally, at Beverley on the last afternoon of the month, Four Wheel Drive scored a comfortable success, again at 12/1. This time the bet was 3-points win, so a further 36-points were earned.

Class 1 Racing were again in fine fettle, following July’s monster haul of 105.85 points with a perfectly acceptable 34.45-point August pay-cheque.

This was a month of steady acquisition with a win-strike-rate of 25% and plenty of good each-way returns on placed selections. In all, 265 tips were given and there were more winning days than losing ones. Winners included two 12/1 advices, Graceful Magic (Newmarket, 3 August) and Adimelo (Sligo, 20 August) and a 9/1 chance, Universal Focus (Down Royal, 31 August).

TV Racing Tips carried July’s good form into August with five winners in the 6/1 to 12/1 price range contributing to a 12.90-point yield. These included Mikmak (12/1, Haydock, 10 August), Growl (9/1, Ripon, 17 August) and Judicial (8/1, Beverley, 31 August). Selections are advised as wins, but no less than 21 out of the month’s 42 selections were placed – two at 20/1.

LB Tipster made it three winning months out of five with Toptipsters; a 6.47-point gain pushed the overall 2019 return to 25.95 points. Eight of August’s 33 selections were winners with a further 11 finishing second or third. Those that found their way into the winners’ enclosure included 6/1 Scofflaw (Chester, 4 August) and 5/1 Dakota Gold (York, 21 August).