Racing comes back to Pakenham racecourse and Grafton racecourse this Thursday and we have two solid cards of racing ahead of us. We come off the back of a solid day in Wednesday tips with our bets going quite well across the Aussie betting sites as well as our exotics tips and multibets tips doing nicely. I am looking forward to Saturday’s group 1 races and am keen to keep the momentum going tomorrow and have run through both of the cards and picked out a best bet and best outside chance of the day. I’ve also outlined our best promotions across the aussie betting sites. In the final part of the article you should find some helpful track insights for both the racecourses which should assist your horse racing betting. Follow me below for another great day of racing this Tuesday!
Horse Racing Tips and Best Bets 22/02/24)
Best Tip: Pakenham - R4 - #6 - Smokin' Giant
Smokin’ Giant should be very tough to beat here for the Moody camp coming here third up, hard fit and off the back of two solid runs to kick the career off. He won on debut at this course over the 1600m when putting on a sharp display to come to the forefront of the race in the last 200m and jet away for a soft win before taking a big step up to racing at Caulfield last time out and coming from behind the pace to finish well into fourth in Saturday company. He rates highly coming here.
| Bookmaker | Odds |
 | $2.70 |
 | $2.60 |
 | BEST OF THREE TOTES |
*The Best Tote bet type pays bettors the highest dividend declared by the three national totes. The VIC TAB, NSW TAB and UBet. This likely means that there aren't fixed odds available at the time of writing this on that bookmaker and there likely will be.
Best Roughie: Grafton - R7 - #1 - The Astronomer
The Astronomer resumed to racing very well for just his third career start off the back of a 26 week spell. He returned to racing at Grafton in fine style over the 1175m where he sat behind the speed for the majority of the run before angling off in the straight, finding a gap and finishing strongly where he got very close to the winner late as he placed second. He should have plenty of upside off that run here and will be stronger.
| Bookmaker | Odds |
| $7.00 | |
| $7.00 |
 | BEST OF THREE TOTES |
*The Best Tote bet type pays bettors the highest dividend declared by the three national totes. The VIC TAB, NSW TAB and UBet. This likely means that there aren't fixed odds available at the time of writing this on that bookmaker and there likely will be.
Stats and Insights
- Pakenham is one of the smallest tracks in the country, with only 1400m circumference and as such suited to front-runners and those horses with the ability to race handy to the pace
- Often, at 1400m - 1600m at Pakenham winners predominantly emerge from barriers 5-8 which suggests those horses who either fire straight onto the speed or those that sit just behind the speed have the greatest chances.
- Grafton has a 400m straight with the home turn being a long sweeping turn which gives runners time to position themselves for big runs in the straight.
Best Racing Promotions
Promotions have historically been a great way for bettors to gain an advantage over betting sites by providing an edge to your bet. For racing specifically these promotions can be extensive in providing you some form of ‘outs’ to your bet that you wouldn’t normally receive.
Palmerbet, in recent weeks, has stood out to me across the Aussie betting sites that offer racing promotions and is one that I would take a look at, especially for big race days that feature Group 1 races and Saturday’s in general.
On our site we have a Palmerbet Review that goes in depth into the bookmaker as well as a Vicbet and Punterspal Review amongst some of the other top bookmakers that frequently have promotions.
Promotions tend to change regularly, so it is important to sign up to these betting sites to stay updated on the latest applicable promotions.
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- Best Bets of the Day - 22/02/24