Four bets from Andy today, including a VERY strong fancy in the 3m handicap hurdle at Ayr.
12.50 Plumpton
GOLDEN BIRTHDAY (best price 3-1) was given a suicidal ride by Noel Fehily in an extremely hot maiden hurdle at Newbury last time out and he’s afforded another chance to show what he can do with hopefully a much more conservative ride this time around. Asked to race hard for at least half a mile in the hottest part of the race rounding the home turn at the Berkshire venue, unsurprisingly Harry Fry’s charge was a spent force after jumping two out and in the end he came home a well-beaten sixth behind the eventual winner High Bridge. The Poliglote gelding, however, showed more than enough to suggest he can win a race over hurdles against less exacting quality and today’s contest looks a decent opportunity to put that theory to the test around a track that should suit.
1.00 Ayr
LOCHNELL (NAP) (best price 4-1) has a terrific record over 3m on soft/heavy ground at today’s track, so with her optimum conditions in place, she has an ideal opportunity to add to her winning tally. Impressive when cruising to victory over C&D two starts ago, Ian Duncan’s charge ran well as to be expected on ground way too fast for last time out at Doncaster and as the winner that day, Two Swallows, ran the last circuit faster than the two 2m 3f contests won by the 136-rated Midnight Jazz and 115-rated Midnight Cowboy, it just proves what kind of opponent she faced that afternoon and what little chance she had in any case.
1.50 Plumpton
CHELSEA FLYER (best price 11-4) made the potentially smart High Bridge pull out all the stops at Newbury last time out and a repeat of that level of form should ensure he gives likely favourite No Comment plenty to think about. Much more amenable to restraint at the Berkshire track without the hood in evidence, Harry Fry’s gelding saw his race out nicely in the closing stages and the fact that he and the winner pulled nicely clear of the rest in a decent time figure all points towards another big effort and a potential maiden-tag breaker.
2.30 Ayr
DESERT CRY (best price 7-2) seems to have reinvented himself as a useful staying handicap hurdler on the evidence of his last two starts and he’s fancied to continue the good recent work at a track where he’s gone well in the past. A creditable runner-up up to the improving novice Ami Desbois at Haydock two starts back, Donald McCain’s charge proved that run to be a reliable one when he trounced a decent field at Bangor last time out and with the time figure and subsequent win of the third home, Cadeaux George, suggesting it’s solid form, he should go some way to adding to his course soft ground form which reads 1324.
