House Of Habsburg showed that he was still miles clear of the handicapper at Warwick.
The question over the longer trip was put to bed, as he looked improved for the extra couple of furlongs.
He made a couple of novicey leaps, but it didn't stop him from being an easy winner under Jack Tudor.
Obviously, when a horse wins, the next race will be harder. I think it might get a lot harder, as I can imagine the handicapper will not be lenient with the amount he is going up in the handicap.
Kap Vert 2/1 (1pt) – Taunton 3.40
Considering it's a day before the Cheltenham Festival, we have a couple of decent races to get stuck into for a Monday, which is a rarity.
This Class 3 race sees a lot of horses who have already won this season turn up. I can see the betting angle for Royal Jewel, Kelce and even Wicked Thoughts. The one I wanted to focus on was Kap Vert, who is a course and distance winner, and has some solid form since his win at this track.
The main piece of form to focus on is the fourth at Ascot, where he was beaten by ten lengths. On face value, you'd imagine that it's not worth mentioning, as he was comfortably beaten. However, the winner, runner-up and sixth-placed horse have all won since. This is a very strong level of form, and this race is definitely weaker than the Ascot race, which should give him a very good chance of winning.
Also, I think the faster ground will be to his advantage. He won at this track by over seven lengths on good ground, which was his best RPR.
Walkinthepresent 3/1 (1pt) – Taunton 4.10
The jockey booking of Dylan Johnston instantly caught my eye for this race.
Dylan is the stable jockey for Sam Thomas, so I was expecting him to be on board Special John, who must be on a good handicap mark for his first start over hurdles for his current trainer. He has been on that horse on all three starts for Sam, but he has jumped ship for the ride on Walkinthepresent, a horse he has never ridden before.
This horse put in a decent performance on his step up to 3m last time out, finishing a close third. The trainer and owners must feel like he is on a very good mark, as he was backed into 5/2F for his handicap debut, and 7/2 last time out. The odds of his runs prior to handicaps were 100/1, 125/1 and 250/1.
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