The weather forecast was definitely my enemy on Thursday as no where near as much rain landed at either Carlisle or Wincanton which didn't help my fancies.
No More No had no excuse in terms of the ground as he has done great on summer racing ground this year, but his jumping was sloppy and was in trouble a long way from home. Fantastikas would've enjoyed the rain which was meant to come, but still, he didn't look to be at the races. He was constantly jumping out to his left and was very laboured, so probably needed the run.
Donnacha is best on extremely soft ground, and that didn't happen at Carlisle and that was one of the main selling points for backing him on chase debut. He didn't jump terribly, but there is definitely room for improvement, and last year's tip in the exact same race came back to haunt me.
Cairnzy has given me the go-ahead to post mine early, and if he has time he will chuck one up later on.
Cairnzy's Tips
Ballybegg 13/2 EW – Uttoxeter 3.55
First of all, sorry for the late post on my end of things!
The jumps season is kicking into gear as the weeks go by, and I thought I'd follow suit with a jumps selection, with Rizz also concentrating on the jumps meetings at Uttoxeter and Fakenham.
My sole selection for Friday's racing comes in the 3.55 at Uttoxeter, a Class 2 handicap hurdle contest over 2m4f. The horse that drew my eye was the Kerry Lee trained Ballybegg.
Notably, Ballybegg opened up at 10/1 odds but has since been backed into 13/2, which just about makes him a reasonable each-way punt.
My selection normally runs his race at this track, having won here twice already over this same course and distance, along with a runner up effort behind a higher-rated rival in The Carpenter from the Nicky Henderson yard. Ballybegg was soundly beaten in his most recent run at Ludlow, which came back in May. That was his first outing of the season and I think you can easily draw a blind eye to that effort as Kerry Lees charge should surely be much fitter this time around.
Prior to Ballybeggs most recent outing he was performing not too badly, and did manage a nice success at Ludlow three starts back when finishing a whopping 10L ahead of the second placed horse which happened to be Mel Rowleys Malaita. Malaita who is scheduled to run on the same card in the 2.45 is the outsider of the field but I'll be keeping an eye out for how that one performs as it could be a pointer for going into this contest. The form of that Ludlow success reads not too bad with Malaita enjoying not a bad 2024 to date, recording a further runner up effort as well as two victories since being turned over by my selection.
My selection has also been dropped a handy 5lb by the handicapper, giving him a great chance in being competitive in this contest.
Rizzel's Tips
Get The Beat 3/1 – Uttoxeter 2.10
In a maiden race like this, there isn't much to go off other than a few hurdle runs and mostly bumper form, so it can be tricky, but with the form of both spheres not being particularly strong, I think you can whittle this down two or three runners. I've ended up giving Get The Beat a chance on stable debut for the Skeltons.
In terms of bumper form, Get The Beat probably has the best form when finishing 3L behind a Nicky Richards runner, which saw him record an RPR of 100. It is of major notice that the Skelton's swooped in to buy this horse from the Tom Weston yard on the back of that run. Dan Skelton rarely gets it wrong when it comes to acquiring horses from other yards, especially the lesser-known yard like Tom's, and I think they saw a decent prospect in that bumper race and they haven't wasted any time and have gone for the hurdles route on his first start in 204 days on stable debut.
I'd rate the Olly Murphy runner, Jackpot D'Ainay as the main threat as he has Sean Bowen on top, so is the main hope from that yard and was purchased for 70k. The Ben Case runner who has experience over hurdles can finish in third spot.
Vision De Maine 4/1 – Uttoxeter 3:20
I think this race is begging for an unexposed type to come in and blow them away, as there are plenty of horses on tough enough marks and they don't really pop out like they can improve too much. I've decided to go for the newcomer, Vision De Maine who has clearly been laid out for a tilt over fences for quite a while.
I am a huge fan of horses making their handicap debuts on their first chase start. It seems like a plan which has been laid out for a long time and they go chasing off a low handicap mark which they can exploit and then rack up a few wins before the handicapper catches up. David Pipe's runner has had a bumper run and three hurdle runs, all over inadequate trips but now he has a handicap mark they have gone up to 3m and are sending him chasing which looks to suit based on his easy PTP victory over 3m before his rule debut.
In terms of ability with this horse, he clearly has it as he wouldn't have been able to win a PTP race by 4L and then he finished 2nd/6 on his bumper/rules debut, recording a respectable RPR of 102. He hasn't done damage in his races since then, but stamina looks to be his strength, so running over 2m was hardly ever going to suit, and given he was weak enough on his 2nd and 3rd run, that's normally a big indicator that nothing was expected from this yard.
Keep an eye on the market, but I fully expect him to be fancied to win this race.
Special Dragon 5/1 (Paddy/Betfair) – Fakenham 3.10 (2pt)
The claims of the newcomers over fences are fairly strong in this race, and even Omaha Wish who has experience as a chaser is respected in this race, but Toby Wynne coming to Fakenham for the one ride on Special Dragon caught my eye.
I could be reading into this far too much, but it seems a strange decision for Toby Wynne to travel to Fakenham for one ride for his bosses, Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero when he could've gone to Uttoxeter and had five rides for the same trainers. He must believe that Special Dragon is better than what she showed on her chase debut at Southwell last time out.
She wasn't completely ruled out on chase debut in terms of the betting as she went off at 17/2. However, she looked in desperate need of the run as she weakened before three from home, but she jumped very well and did look a bit of a natural over the fences at that track, so she is definitely on a good mark. She went through the race like she had a cracking chance, but did go backwards quite rapidly just before turning for home. Today's drop in trip raises a few questions as she was a winner over further when racing over hurdles, but she did have some decent pieces of form over 2m 2f when finishing second at Market Rasen, which has seen many horses improve their handicap ratings a fair margin since, so the drop to 2m around a tight track could be what she wants over fences.
In December 2020 we sadly 
