Saturday racing tips: Andy Ayres picks out his best bet for today’s racing while updating us on all the latest gossip from the tracks this week

IF DONALD Trump thinks fake news is a problem in American politics he should try earning a crust on the racecourse.

Take Salisbury on Thursday, I’d barely got a boot out the car before one noted yarn spinner – this fella has told more fairy stories than the Brothers Grimm – went through his nudge-nudge-wink-wink routine before informing me Andrew Balding had certainties in three of the two-year-old races.

Needless to say they’re still searching for the Balding trio, who all started jolly and ran as if they’d been fitted with divers’ boots!

Manuela De Vega is a filly to take from this card. She’s a big girl with a bit of class and was bet at fancy prices (11-1 to 6-1) before steaming home wide and late to win.

Connections think she’s a bit useful and Ralph Beckett is already lining-up her up for an Oaks trial next spring.

She was certainly a better looker than Foreign Legion, who turned up for a 7f novice event at Lingfield covered in more spots than you’d see on a Clearasil advert.

RACECARDS Get all the information you need and study the latest form through our new racecards

I asked the lad leading the horse round what had caused this outbreak of equine Randolph Scotts – “he’s got hayfever” was the mystifying diagnosis.

I’m no James Herriot, but that sounds about as likely as Harvey Weinstein being asked to discuss female emancipation at a Women’s Institute meeting.

Prize for biggest flop of the week goes to The Queen’s highly rated Calculation, who slid out to 6-1 from 5-2 before running like a drain in the 1m maiden at Goodwood on Tuesday.

Alright, the colt didn’t look great in the prelims – he’d got the sweats after spending too long looking at fillies parading for the preceding race – but surely this was too bad to be true.

The stewards did ask Sir Michael Stoute’s representative for an explanation, but he had fewer answers than a Russian spy.

Jeremy Noseda isn’t everyone’s cup of Darjeeling – he’s made Attila The Hun look like a skilled diplomat on occasions – but it did seem a bit harsh when he lost the Phoenix Thoroughbred horses back in May.

That was a proper kick in the unmentionables, but Jeremy’s battling back and saddled a promising filly in Alexa Rose at Windsor on Monday.

She wasn’t revved-up for this, but has a bigger set of muscles than The Rock and did well to finish third from a tricky draw.

There’s plenty of improvement in the locker and I reckon she’ll be hard to beat next time.

All eyes will be on Enable and Crystal Ocean at Kempton today, but the best bet on a cracking card could be HONEY MAN in the London Mile Final (3.15).

It’s taken a while for the penny to drop with this good-looking chestnut, but he understands the game now and looked sharp as a tack when winning with something to spare last time.

We’ve got the human-dynamo Silvestre De Sousa on our side and this tasty £70,000 pot is there for the taking.