It was a very small profit on Sunday with the two horses selected at Naas.
Majolique must have a very good engine, as she jumped horrendously for the entire race. She nearly dived through the side of the hurdle support on one occasion, but she was simply far too good for the others in the Listed event.
Captain Guinness was better than what we've seen from him this season, but he is definitely not going to be winning any major races going forward. It looks like time has caught up to him, and despite him jumping well and travelling through the race well, he found little when it mattered.
Alto Alto 2/1 (1pt) – Plumpton 3.15
There is a strong possibility that Kitsilano will still be on a good mark, if the wind-op was the reason for his runaway success last time out. However, I thought Alto Alto ran a blinder to push a previous selection, Icare Grandchamp, to the line last time out.
I was confident that Icare Grandchamp was going to win last time out, so to see Alto Alto get as close as he did was impressive. He has gone up 1lb in the handicap for that run, and I think a repeat performance will be more than enough to secure a win in today's race.
He has not shown a good piece of form since February last year, when he won over today's C&D off a mark of 111. That shows that at this venue, at this level of race and on soft ground, he is dangerous.
Jaccours 15/8 (1pt) – Ayr 3.00
Tommy Combats is definitely the safe option for this race, and he might be good enough to win again after winning last time out, and putting in consistent efforts at this track. I thought that Jaccours was interesting on his chasing and handicap debut.
It's strange that they haven't gone down the handicap route with him already, as he has had five runs over hurdles, but they must've wanted to get a win before transitioning.
I always like the angle of going chasing on a horse's handicap debut, and given the strike rate from Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen at the Scottish tracks this season, he has to be worth a shot.
There is a strong possibility that there is a fair bit of improvement to come for Jaccours, as he is related to two solid horses. He is related to Hourvari, rated 124 for the Olly Murphy stable, and is also related to Harry Derham's Le Frimeur (1/1 over hurdles, 121 RPR)
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