If Wednesday’s bet ran poorly, Thursday’s run was a total shocker. It’s a tough game at times, but the goal remains the same as it always has. We’re looking to identify value based on solid reasoning. Let’s see what Friday brings.
| Uttoxeter - 17:05 |
Bridge Road |
12/1 |
On Friday, I’m off to Uttoxeter in search of a turnaround in fortunes. At the very least, I’m confident that I’ve found plenty of value for money in the form of Bridge Road, a horse available at what I can only describe as a very user-friendly price of 12/1 (at the time of writing on Thursday night).
Having not fired towards the end of last season and having offered little when reappearing at Worcester a month ago, the eight-year-old took a step back in the right direction with a respectable third at Perth just over three weeks ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went forward again.
Undoubtedly a horse that is well handicapped
Dropped another 1 lb in the weights, sitting 13 lbs below his last winning mark, 18 lbs below if we factor in William Shanahan’s 5 lb claim, the gelding is clearly well handicapped, there’s no doubting that.
In terms of trip, this is a step back down, and he’s dropping down to the minimum trip for the first time in a while. Positively, his last (and only) victory came over the minimum trip, while that win also came on good-to-soft.
It’s interesting to report that he’s won or placed in four of his last seven runs on good-to-soft ground, while he comes here for a trainer that has had her string in fine fettle recently.
Not only has Jennie Candlish won with a rather chunky 30.77% of her runners in the last fortnight, but she’s won with 33.33% of her runners at Uttoxeter in the last year, winning and placing with 50%. Uttoxeter is also the venue where Candlish has saddled the most winners.
Sure, this horse hasn’t won for a while and he hasn’t seriously knocked on the door for a while either, but he has several pieces of form that suggest he’d be capable of landing a serious blow in a race of this nature, especially as he sits at the foot of the weights.
Ranking very highly on both sets of speed figures that I use, Bridge Road simply ticks too many important boxes for 12/1 to not be taken. Such odds offer plenty of value for money, put it that way.
Based on a £10 level-stakes example, the Nap of the Day running profit is -£10.00 (since switching to being published here (10/09/2024) rather than on the ‘Nap of the Day' page).
In December 2020 we sadly 
