Racing tips: The front running Eponina can run them ragged at Redcar

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At this time of year it can be hard to find which horses are ready first time out, and which are running as a prep run for something further down the line. The latter is what appears to have been the case for Twilight Spinner for the thread yesterday. She was weak in the market and wasn't exactly pushed out to maximum potential, and did look in need of the run. She ran a nice race, and will be one to follow as the season progresses. 

Redcar 1:30

This is a fairly shoddy race, full of horses who are out of form and don't have their ideal conditions. I'm putting up EPONINA in this, who has been a winning tip for us last year on the flat, when ridden by Erika Parkinson who is on board again today. Erika takes off a very handy 7lbs, and although a mark of 65 doesn't exactly make him well handicapped, the allowance she takes off is a big help, and in comparison to the horses in the field, she is one of the more consistent performers.

This race is full of horses who don't win all that often, or are still maidens, whereas the selection, Eponina, is a 7x winner on the turf. You know what you'll get from this filly. She is a front runner, who can be very tough to peg back, and I'm hoping that is the case for today. She isn't as good on the AW as she is on turf, so the runs on the AW can be ignored, as they would've been used to keep her busy during the winters months in prep for the flat turf. Soft ground wouldn't be her ideal conditions, but she does handle them, and has won on similar ground on a few occasions. In a race like this, it does pay dividends to back horses who actually win, and she fits the bill.

At the current odds of around 6/1 I think she is a good EW price and if she gets an uncontested lead, she will be tough to peg back.

Redcar 3:15

Arguably the race of the day comes in the fifth race at Redcar in a 17 runner Class 3 handicap. This looks trappy on paper, but there looks to be a lot of dead weight in this, and the odds flying around for LIGHTENING COMPANY are more than generous in my opinion, and with 5 places on offer, he looks like a nice EW bet.

The ground at Redcar is currently described as “Soft” and they are expecting more rain before the start of racing, so you want horses who will handle those conditions. I have no doubts about Lightening Company handling the ground, he is by Fast Company, who is a Sire who's progeny do extremely well on testing ground, and he has already proven that when winning on debut at Carlisle on soft ground. He comes into this race with a fitness edge over a large proportion of the field, as he has had a couple runs on the AW, and was then tried in a hurdles race at the start of March. He didn't run badly in the hurdles race, finishing 4th/5 3.5L behind the winner, he looked novicey, but if anything it would've got him fit for the flat season.

He has a nice progressive and unexposed profile, which is something which is seen to be a plus for me in races like this, as you have a reasonable understanding of the older handicappers. He is drawn low, which has been a positive in this race in the last 8 renewals, producing all winners in that time frame from single digit stalls. Six of the last eight winners in this race have carried 8st 13lbs or less, which is another thing which is deemed to be a positive for the selection, as he carries 8st 12lbs.

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