Monday Racing Tips from Architect

The Michael Meade-trained CITYJET (best price 11-2) has shaped like a horse with a lot of ability in three starts to date and while the promise he’s displayed in each of them has yet to materialise with victory as of yet, he’s done very little wrong and was just unfortunate to bump into a really smart sort by the name of Witch Hunter on his penultimate outing at Wolverhampton. Having exhibited so much promise for connections already, the form of his debut second at the West Midlands venue has received multiple boosts given the winner, Aasser, has followed up since, while the third, North Lincoln, equalled that trait by successfully scoring at Southwell last-time-out. The headgear has been discarded and he has been handed a lenient-looking mark of 75, so he could be a serious force if taking to the turf ahead of his handicap debut. 

GOLDEN APOLLO (best price 11-2) can be a difficult customer to predict nowadays but the eight-year-old is down to a career-low handicap mark of 77 and caught the eye at Ripon last time, where he fared best of those held-up to stay on strongly and take third. He’s spent the majority of his career competing in better races than this, winning and placing off much higher marks, including when second in last years William Hill Great St Wilfrid Handicap off 86. His only two starts at this track were over course-and-distance, in which he finished third on each occasion in this grade off marks of 88 and 86, so this track clearly plays to his strengths. Off this basement mark for a horse of his standards with that latest reappearance third under his belt, David Allan might be able to guide this extremely well-treated individual back to the winner’s enclosure. 

TINTO (best price 8-1), in addition, has invariably gone well on his seasonal reappearance and his current mark of 87, which is lenient, cannot be disputed. The six-year-old is having his first run for Michael Dods since leaving Amanda Perrett but his record when returning from a break of fourth months or more reads one win and a second from two runs. He was down the field on his final start last term but he’s defied higher marks of 91, 96 and 100 in the past and would eat these for breakfast if able to return to his 2019/2020 form, where he won and placed numerous times in races ranging between class two and Group three company. He ran really well to place three times last year off marks in the 90’s, two of which were in class two, so this appears to be a fine opportunity from his sliding mark whilst knowing he has the class and attributes at his disposal to go very well in this grade.