Wednesday Racing Tips from Architect

EMBOUR (best price 10/1) is the outsider of the field and needs to step up on his two runs so far this year, but a recent wind op back over the minimum trip off a career-low mark makes him worth an interest at the odds. He’s won five times off higher marks in the past and has previously run well in defeat in some valuable events off higher marks too. His last win was over this trip off a mark of 90 in a class three event and Ruth Carr’s charge is all about speed and is seen to best effect under fast conditions, which he’s going to get in this race. He’s likely to be the pace angle here, as he likes to go forward, and he should be fitter for his two runs so far this year, which have been in a pair of class two events. Abate and Natural Path arrive in better form, but the selection has much better form over this trip, looks too well-treated off this initial mark and he went extremely close over track and trip on his last visit here off a three pounds higher mark. Given his previous capabilities, he holds a better chance than his current odds suggest for James Sullivan and Ruth Carr, who also have their only ride and runner on today’s card. 

There’s a lot to like about BRIDGE ROAD (best price 5/2) in this race, who showed a bit of promise in a brace of hurdle events that had worked out well before returning from a break with an excellent ‘head’ second over course-and-distance last time, where the bypassed last hurdle probably cost him the race under Sean Quinlan. He travelled really well throughout that contest and seemed to idle in the latter stages when he got to the front pretty comfortably before staying on strongly once challenged to nearly force a photo and, essentially, has only been put up a pound by the assessor, which is lenient. On the evidence of his form to date, he looks well-handicapped off a mark of 95 and is sure to be fitter this time round, as that latest effort was his first start for four months. Jennie Candlish has her team in red-hot form and her only runner of the day in the finale here, can gain compensation by going one better with a lot more to come in the handicapping scenario in this sphere.