Following a 9/4 winner yesterday, Steve Ryder is back with three selections for Friday's racing.
14:30 Sandown
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The William Haggas trained Kettle Hill (best priced at 7/4) is unlucky not to have won either of his previous two races and he is expected to gain compensation in this race. The son of Gleneagles finished 2nd by a head at York in July off a mark of 85 before finishing a nose behind the same rival at Ripon last time off a 1lb higher mark.
On both occasions Garden Oasis got first run on Kettle Hill before the gelding stayed on extremely well in the closing stages. Kettle Hill will appreciate the uphill finish at Sandown and gets to race from 5lb “well in” at the weights in this handicap and as a result should prove extremely hard to beat.
14:50 Chester
This 0-85 handicap is going be a fascinating tactical contest with preference going to the proven front runner Fast Steps (best priced at 4/1). Bookmark is currently favourite for this race but is often held up in her races and could struggle to make ground at Chester. She won by 17 lengths last week at Pontefract but that was in a weak 0-70 maiden handicap and she now steps up in class to a 0-85 handicap under a 6lb penalty.
The Richard Hannon trained Fast Steps has been running consistently well this season (bar a blip at Goodwood) and also has good form at Epsom which has similar demands to Chester as a track. He was only beaten by a neck last time at Epsom over 1m2f and gets to run here 1lb “well in” at the weights at this race. He is well drawn in stall 3 to get a prominent position and should prove hard to beat under Sean Levey.
17:30 Ballinrobe
Abbey Magic (best priced at 9/4) joined Henry De Bromhead from J A Berry in August 2018 having finished 12th of 14 off a mark of 117 in a handicap hurdle. Since then, she has campaigned exclusively over fences with form figures of 11121543414 with a rating of 145 over the larger obstacles.
Connections have now decided to revert Abbey Magic back over hurdles off a lowly mark of 114 (31lbs lower) and she should prove extremely hard to beat as a result. She also now returns to mares company which is another positive and she is too well handicapped to ignore in this race.
