Rizz managed to land a lovely 9/1 winner on Sunday, with Magna Sam bolting up at Musselburgh to win by just over 9L.
Rizzels other selection Mitbaahy had to play second fiddle to Karl Burkes Marshman, who had a bit in hand at the line, winning by just over 1L.
Cairnzy's Tips
Alpine Trail 6/5 – Wolverhampton 4.27
This looks like an interesting little contest and despite only five runners going to post, it should at the very least be informative for this upcoming flat season.
Interestingly, the only two in the field who have racing experience are currently unfancied with the market seemingly thinking this contest will go to one of the three new-comers. I have a similar feeling that one of the three new comers will be good enough to take this and I found it hard to separate them, particularly when it came to analyzing my own selection Alpine Trial and the Karl Burke runner Paratrooper. Both of the horses I've just mentioned are nicely bred and although we don't have any recent form to go on in regards to the horses themselves, there wasn't exactly much separating them in terms of potential in the future.
Both Charlie Appleby and Karl Burke are in red hot form at present with Charlie operating at a 37% SR in the last fourteen days, producing seven winners from his last nineteen runners. Karl Burke is operating at a similar sort of level, producing five winners from fourteen runs and operating at a 36% SR. Charlie Appleby landed a four timer over in Meydan recently and was unlucky not to land all five with his odds on favourite Al Qudra letting the team down when finishing second. With that said, Charlie has had success on UK soil also with his last two runners winning at both Kempton and Wolverhampton.
Notably, Charlie Appleby seems to have a knack for targeting Wolverhampton itself with his newcomers, and he operates at a very healthy 32% SR when sending his debutants to the track. Charlie won this exact contest 12 months ago with a horse called Endless Victory who although still lightly raced in his career, has reached a respectable OR of 102 on the flat with his most recent victory coming in a competitive Class 2 handicap at Yarmouth last year. My selection Alpine Trail was an expensive purchase at 550,000 Euros and connections will be disappointed if he's unable to at least hit the same heights of Endless Victory or more importantly better those figures in the future.
They Want Me 6/4 – Carlisle 4.33
My second selection on Monday comes in the finale at Carlisle in the shape of the Donald McCain-trained They Want Me, a horse who holds strong claims in following up from his debut win in a p2p last year.
The form of the Donald McCain yard isn't that inspiring at present but I am willing to give his runner They Want Me a chance in this contest as I don't think it will require much to take it. Similar to most in this field, They Want Me has only raced the one time during his short career which came in a p2p contest at Punchestown in February of last year. They Want Me came out on top that day, winning quite comfortably by 2L in the end, seeing off the challenge from Swindon Village who has since joined the Charlie Longsdon stable.
The form of that p2p win is one of the best on offer with Swindon Village going one better next time out and following up with a respectable third on Boxing Day, finishing not too far behind the eventual winner Dalston Lad from the Skelton yard. Dalston Lad had won his previous two races before that outing so finishing just shy of 4L behind seems a fair enough effort from Swindon Village.
Tomorrows forecast ground at Carlisle is soft, which is conditions that should suit my selection given his p2p success came on soft/heavy. Usual jockey Brian Hughes takes the ride for trainer Donald McCain and my selection holds strong claims of making it back to back wins,
