Wednesday Racing Tips from Steve Ryder

Laura Morgan and Brian Hughes look to have plenty of well fancied runners at Perth today but it is FIRST ANGEL (best priced at 6/4) who I think is the horse that still provides the most value. The six-year-old finished a beaten favourite on his first start for 156 days at Southwell but this race represents a drop in class.

First Angel finished 3rd by 3 ¼ lengths off a mark of 105 at Southwell in a Class 4 0-110 handicap but he now drops into a Class 5 0-105 handicap off the same mark. His closest rival on ratings is Rock On Tommy who is only rated 89 so he is clearly the best horse in the race by some margin and I expect him to concede over a stone to his rivals.

It is rare that a horse making his handicap debut for James Horton goes off 6/4 but that was the case last time over this course and distance where ENCOURAGEABLE NAP (best priced at 6/4) was unlucky to finish 2nd. The three-year-old son of Profitable finished a close 2nd on his debut at Doncaster before getting off the mark at Wolverhampton on his second start. He then ran in the listed Heron Stakes at Sandown before returning from 59 days off the track to finish 2nd on his handicap debut.

Encourageable was held up in rear by PJ McDonald but he failed to get a gap until the final furlong where he stayed on strongly to finish only a length behind the winner Azano with a further 3 ¾ lengths back to the third. The handicapper has raised the colt 4lbs for that effort up to a mark of 90 but he still gets to run here off a mark of 86 making him 4lbs “well in” at the weights and I expect him to win this comfortably.

The Ivan Furtado trained FRUSTRATING (best priced at 8/1) has shown very little in his three career starts to date but he looks worth taking a chance on off an opening mark of 55. The gelded son of Ardad has only beaten one horse home in his three starts but those have been when sent off 12/1, 150/1 and 250/1 where he has raced far too keenly over 7f and a mile.

Frustrating now drops down in trip to 6f which should suit him based on his sire and running style and he is now also fitted with a first time tongue tie and first time cheekpieces. PJ McDonald now takes over from Harrison Shaw which is a positive and he looks worth taking a chance on in this race.