GYTO Thursday Notebook Tips

Richard Spencer looks to have a really nice horse on his hands in the shape of WONDERWALL (best price 15-8). He is arguably unlucky not to be coming here unbeaten over hurdles as a last flight error looked to cost him on hurdles debut at Newbury. He ran out a convincing winner at Doncaster last month despite still looking far from the finished article. He should keep improving with experience and while this is deeper he brings a lot of potential to the table. The danger looks to be Elle Est Belle who left her debut run over hurdles at Newbury behind when winning impressively at that venue back in November. She was beaten in Grade 2 company behind Jonbon last time but that was obviously a deep contest. She has more to come so should give the selection a race. Harbour Lake might just lack a gear or two but is also a nice prospect

I know pretty much everything went to plan for SCARPIA at Plumpton last time as he made all and never saw another rival but even so it was impressive and turned out quickly off the same mark he should be hard to beat. Nathan Brennan gets to claim his full 7lb here so the horse is actually a 1lb better off than last time. They only jumped 6 that day as all the hurdles in the straight were omitted but that doesn’t bother me too much as he jumps well enough in the main. The opposition here arrive largely out of form so it looks a great opportunity to follow up. Lord Roco remains unexposed after just the 5 runs under Rules and won well at Newcastle last time but an opening mark of 119 looks harsh enough to me. Sultans Pride beat Moon King over C&D last time but this looks a deeper race so he also needs to find more.