SOUTH African bettors will be well familiar by now with Neil Morrice, the gentleman peering somewhat wearily over his glasses in this photo snapped at Fibber Magees Restaurant in Dubai on Wednesday.

Neil, the “UK Wizard”, is a tipster of repute who handles UK racing selections for Phumelela – and arguably the first overseas scribe they’ve appointed who actually owns a functioning brain. Seriously, we were there, Neil looks in need of a few hours of sleep due to hours of studying form!

Neil Morrice: If you want poppycock and poor tips, look elsewhere!

A good proportion of SA punters follow Neil’s tips and advice given in his Racing Express column – having followed him for some time and having witnessed the effort he devotes to studying form we can vouch for the fact that Neil really knows his oats and that he takes his position as advisor to UK racing bettors seriously indeed.

Hard as we tried, we couldn’t tear Neil away from his phone and tablet at Fibbers, a popular institution, downtown, to which he escaped to for some quiet time when the commotions at Meydan became overwhelming early on Wednesday and Tellytrack were about to get hold of him for a live preview .

If you read Neil’s write-ups in The Citizen you would have noticed the man thinks, and writes, out of the box and doesn’t rely on rehashed balderdash to fill space. Read his lines, and between them, and you’ll pick up a number of good pointers to the race meetings in the UK at which heaps of rands can be won every day.

Neil grew up in Yorkshire and lives near Oxford, where he attended Grammar School while he was not learning about the races as they happened at places like Wetherby, York and Rippon. He was a racing scribe for the Press Association and operated from an office in Fleet Street, London (to have that on your CV is like having a full, scary beard when you’re a rugby player!) and cut his teeth in the days of the legendary Peter O’Sullevan and John Oaksey.

Neil is a professional track student and betting man and he is especially friendly with the likes of top English trainers Sir Michael Stoute, Luca Cumani, Henry Candy, Peter Chappel-Hyam and Andrew Balding. He regards Frankel, See The Stars and Mill Reef as the three best horses he has seen so far in his racing career.

His value bet for this Saturday’s Dubai World Cup: Lea (USA), trained by Bill Mott.

His best Mike de Kock runner: Mubtaahij, who should win the UAE Derby.

As actor Sasha Baron Cohen often said in his portrayal of Ali G: “Reespect!”