Polly The Sniper wasn't up to the job at Brighton, and was very one-paced.
The market was all over the place. The second favourite when the thread was posted was around 3/1, and he drifted out to 20/1 and still ran a good race to finish second. The favourite was well-supported and was given a straightforward ride by Tom Marquand, and won with plenty in hand.
Desperate Dan 11/4 – Haydock 2.17
Hopefully, Desperate Dan will get a better start than he did when I tipped him up at this venue last time out. He came out of the stalls quite slowly, but had to be rousted along for a couple of furlongs. Even though all of that went on, he still finished fourth in a Class 2, so I want to give him another shot.
A few in this race are proven on heavy ground, but Desperate Dan is proven at this level and is only a couple of pounds higher than when he won at the back end of last year. We know testing ground is his best type of ground, and with this being against weaker opposition compared to last time, I'm hoping he can capitalise on that.
Venetian Lion 10/3 – Haydock 2.52
After going through a fairly rough patch for the standard of Tom Marquand and William Haggas, they have come out of that and have been getting a solid amount of winners for the last month. This stable won this race two of the last three years, and they've been with three-year-olds, which is why Venetian Lion is an interesting horse.
We don't know if he'll handle the ground, but given the stable's record in the race, they must have a strong feeling that he'll enjoy the ground. Haggas isn't the type of trainer who will take chances on horses, and he's one to send horses for races if he really believes they can win or do themselves justice.
Maximising is definitely the safer option given he has form on heavy ground, but I'm a sucker for an unexposed horse.
Resemblance 9/4 – Haydock 3.27
With the majority of the runners in this race being unexposed and having limited runs under their belt, taking the favourite in this race is a risk, but I believe the step up to seven furlongs will unlock more from Resemblance.
It was a career best by quite a big margin for Resemblance last time out on her handicap debut at Ffos Las. She had previously encountered soft ground on her penultimate run and didn't run to what was expected based on her market position of being the EVS favourite, but she sorted it out on her second attempt on a slow surface.
She stayed on strongly over six furlongs at Ffos Las, and based on that performance, there's no reason to believe that she won't be better over today's longer trip.
GambleAware