Liam Firkin has four key selections for Tuesday 4th February.
14:40 Market Rasen
CAWTHORNE BANKER (33/1) is the outsider of the field for the O’Neill yard but one that I am happy to play at a big price. They managed to rack up two wins and a place over the course of the summer when running off marks of 93, 101 and 102.
The latter of those wins, off 102 was beating horses rated significantly higher than his current mark. Happy Boy was rated 106 and Got Grey has improved to a rating of 116. Cawthorne Banker comes in here off a falling mark that is back down to 97. That is 10lbs below what he ran to when beating the horses previously mentioned.
Ground must be a consideration given that he has appears to have performed best when lining up on good ground. However, he has acted with soft in the going description when finishing 17 lengths behind the very progressive Doyen Quest as well as running into a third-place finish at Hereford on soft ground. At a big price and back down to an attractive mark, I am willing to chance him in this.
13:55 Taunton
LATIN VERSE (16/1) is a horse that would appear to much prefer going right-handed on soft going conditions. That is what he will encounter in this today. His form with those conditions reads: 212, as well as a second place on good to soft ground, at Huntingdon.
He drops back to the 2-mile trip tomorrow after being sent up in trip last time out, which he found difficult to quicken when asked. A strongly run 2 miles will see him to better effect and the reapplication of the cheekpieces is another angle I like, and hope to see it garner some further improvement, given that his last win was when the headgear was on, as well as his other notable performances.
He comes in here off a mark of 118 and with Calumn Pritchard’s 5lb claim to take off, he will carry a nice racing weight of 11-7 in this this Class 4 contest. For all the reasons mentioned, I am expectant of a good run in this and think he is cracking value at 16/1.
19:30 Newcastle
An open handicap at Newcastle and I like another big price in this race, MARCELLO SI (16/1). All three of his All-Weather victories have come here and two of those over this trip of 7 furlongs.
His three wins came off marks of 46 ,49 and 50 and recent form has seen him fall back to that initial rating of 46, which started a nice run of things in 2024 when stringing together some decent results, mainly over course and distance, here.
His form has been modest over the course of winter and that is why he is entered in the market at the price he is, but should he rediscover form from the bulk of 2024, there is no reason as to why he can’t be competitive in this. BOG is advised as he was priced up at 28/1 yesterday evening and has seen support overnight and while I am still happy to play at 28/1, these soft markets, can see horses backed in, only to drift again before the off and I was much more excited about him as a betting proposition when seeing the 28’s about him yesterday.
14:25 Taunton
The Tizzard/Powell combination have hit a bit of form recently with strike rates of 22% and 20% respectively. They team up with INVESTMENT MANAGER (22/1) in this and on soft ground, back up in trip, he makes plenty of appeal.
Granted, he has done a lot of his winning during the summer months and 4 of his 5 successes over fences have come at Newton Abbot, but he has won at Exeter going right-handed and comes into this contest off the same mark as when winning in May, 123.
The yard is in good form and conditions favour Investment Manager today so I’m happy to play him at 22/1 each way.
