You can Bet On The Tiger with a lot more confidence this time at Cambridge

Bet On The Tiger will never be good enough to claim a slot in ‘The Race’ but he’s capable enough of winning The Race 14th April Mobile Pace at Cambridge on Thursday night.

Punters should ignore the drop off in form of Lincoln Farms’ colt in the fourth race, says trainer Ray Green, now that Bet On The Tiger has shrugged off a virus that has dogged the team.

Two starts back at Cambridge it wasn’t just his outside second row draw and parked trip that saw him drop out to 10th.

The horse was found to have snot in his lungs after the race and had to go out for a brief spell.

“A lot of the horses here had been sick and he definitely had the virus,” Green said.

And last time, on March 10, while Bet On The Tiger led from the outset, Green’s fears that he would be short on race fitness proved correct when he ran out of puff 75 metres from home and finished fourth.

“If he hadn’t drawn so well that night I wouldn’t have lined him up. He hadn’t raced for six weeks so he definitely needed it. He’s no champion but we know he’s better than that.”

In his previous four starts at Cambridge Bet On The Tiger had racked up a formline of -3221.

On Thursday, the three-year-old leaves from seven on the gate, not ideal over the 1700 metre dash, but only Ideal Tomado in five has the gate speed to worry him.

The field is ordinary to say the least, ranging between rating 38 and rating 48, and Bet On The Tiger has also had the benefit of a workout at Pukekohe last Saturday.

In it, he faced much better horses over 2050 metres, leading, trailing and battling on for a close fifth behind Fernleigh Cash (R50), Romeo Shard (R57), The Notorious R B G (R49) and John Wayne (R51).

“He’ll probably need another one before we see the best of him, but he should go much better this time,” Green said.

Zachary Butcher takes the reins.