Ffos Las Horse Racing Tips Today: Jake Price's Wednesday Selections

SINNATRA 1pt Win @ 15/8

This Novices' Limited Handicap Chase has attracted five declarations, but all eyes will be on SINNATRA for the Dan Skelton team. He is rated 141 following his second place in the Grade 1 Top Novices' Hurdle at the Aintree Festival in April, and prior to that run he was a good fifth in the County at Cheltenham as well. 

He is not a point-to-point recruit, but he is a half-brother to Listed Chase winner Maria’s Benefit, so you would expect him to make up into a smart Novice this season. Dan Skelton has said in the past that he thinks an aggressive ride over two-miles suits him well, and that looks like what the tactics will be on Wednesday with the hood he wore at Aintree retained. Dan Skelton’s Novice Chase team has done well so far with the likes of Country Mile and Big Cadillac both winning, but the highest pressure runner so far will be this lad, and hopefully that means they will have ensured he is fit enough to do himself justice.

The clear danger is Pourquoi Pas Papa for Paul Nicholls in receipt of plenty of weight as a 4yo, but Paul has only had four runners in the last 14 days, with Treasure Planet the one horse to scramble home and win. It would not surprise me then if his string are not as far forward as Dan Skelton’s at this current early stage.

IRON BRIDGE 0.5pts EW @ 13/2

This Veterans race looks a pretty open affair, as the well backed Guard Your Dreams is yet to win over three-miles. Another unknown is the fact that Rebecca Curtis is having her first runners of the season today at Ffos Las, so it is impossible to know just how forward her string will be fitness wise. Perhaps neither factor will prove to be an issue, but the horse I thought that the market was overlooking somewhat is IRON BRIDGE for the in-form Jonjo & AJ O’Neill team.

This Horse has a brilliant record when returning fresh after an absence of at least 173 days which reads 111P32, and that PU came in a hot race at Newbury when prepping for the Welsh National. Last season he was only beaten a neck at Carlisle by Sound And Fury (127) however, so this freshness angle certainly still holds a lot of weight.

As he turned 10 in January connections could have gone straight into Veterans company with him, but instead they persisted in competitive staying handicaps, where he finished second to Ki Woo (133) and third to Rivers Corner (130) before getting his head back in front at Haydock in April - winning a Class 2 Handicap Chase over 3m1½f in very game fashion off a mark of 135.

Now finally moving into a Veterans contest, I think there is plenty of upside about IRON BRIDGE despite the 4lb rise in the weights, and that confidence is enchanced by the fact that Jonjo & AJ O'Neill enjoyed a fantastic Chepstow meeting over the weekend with three winners who were all targeted at specific races, and a second place who might have won had he not made a mistake at the last