A day after six-timer, Sam Turner bashes bookies again with 26-1 Good Friday treble

By Marcus Townend

Published: 16:00 EST, 18 April 2014 | Updated: 16:06 EST, 18 April 2014

Sam Turner, Racemail’s Robin Goodfellow, gave punters an Easter Bank Holiday bonus when his nap Captain Cat romped home on the first ever Good Friday raceday.

The well-backed 4-1 winner of the Mile Championship was one of three winners in a 26-1 treble for the in-form tipster on the first £1million All-Weather Championship Finals Day.

Top tipster: Sam turner gave the bookies a real battering over two days

Top tipster: Sam turner gave the bookies a real battering over two days

Award-winning Turner, who bashed the bookies with a 1,623-1 six-timer at Newmarket on Thursday, also tipped Litigant (2-1) and Ertijaal (4-5) with the latter now a likely runner in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 3.

If those winners made punters smile, there was also happiness among the officials at the Surrey track as they celebrated the success of the meeting.

Racegoers voted with their feet as a record crowd of just under 9,000 crammed into the course for the climax of an enhanced programme of All-Weather racing during the winter.

The number was almost double what the track attracts for what had traditionally been its biggest meeting, next month’s Lingfield Derby Trial fixture.

Return: Captain Cat was one of three winners in a 26-1 treble

Return: Captain Cat was one of three winners in a 26-1 treble

Officials at Musselburgh, which drew in just over 3,000 spectators, put a brave face on their more modest crowd but the tradition-breaking move of racing on Good Friday will be used as a springboard to bigger things.

Tony Kelly, managing director of ARC, owners of Lingfield, said: ‘We were pretty confident that on a Bank Holiday you could get a decent crowd but this is better than we expected.

‘We are not going to stop here. Our ambition is a Breeders’ Cup in Europe.’

However, significant numbers were drifting to the exits before the meeting ended with the £200,000 feature Coral Easter Classic, suggesting the racing played less a part in attracting them than the Bank Holiday sun.

However, two winners, Living The Life and Litigant, landed £72,840 for their trainers, Philip McEntee and Seamus Durack, season-changing sums for their small stables. No wonder an emotional McEntee looked close to tears.

 

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