Racing tips: Undercover Lover has the pedigree to get involved on bumper debut

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I was hopeful of coming out of Wednesday with a clean sweep of 3/3 winners, but it wasn't meant to be. The first runner at Compiegne let it down, though he was very strong in the betting, being backed into 10/3 from 7/1 as expected. Thankfully, the other two runners on the day won and won well.

Wincanton 3:25

Bumper races haven't been too kind to me in recent times but the odds available look too tempting on the Nicholls debutante MEATLOAF.

Paul has started this season extremely well, which you'd normally expect as he is a multiple champion trainer, but this season he has hit the ground running at a rate of knots with a 32% SR across the board which includes 5 bumper winners. He has unleashed some fairly decent prospects in bumpers including Thames Water and I think this horse could be another that could potentially be seen in better races later on in the season.

He is a half-brother to the classy Thyme White who is also part of the Nicholls yard and is a horse who seems to excel on good ground so the dry forecast on the already good-to-soft ground should mean this surface will be perfectly fine for him.

The horse who sets the standards is Twentyfirst Lancer who has since moved from Ralph Beckett's yard to Philip Hobbs. For him to carry a penalty and win this against some horses from big yards he'll have to be very smart in my opinion. Also, I don't think the form from his sole win is that great.

Market Rasen 12:07

It's a tad surprising to see ICEMAN DENNIS being ignored in the market, as I feel like he has a much better chance than the odds state, though his very early odds of 20/1 were long gone and he's now available at around 8/1.

I was drawn to the way he travelled at Stratford last time out at the end of October when finishing third at odds of 80/1. He didn't go on to challenge after travelling nicely into the race but the winner looked like a horse to follow on the back of that, even though he was beaten at odds-on the time after. The fourth in that race also runs in this race today and there wasn't much to separate the two that day and the same applies when you compare their ratings today and what weight they run off, but Iceman Dennis has had a wind-op since, and I think that could help out massively as he didn't see the race out last time as I said before and if that has a positive effect, he could translate his strong travelling ways into a strong finishing effort.

All of the eyes will be drawn to Gerard Mentor in this who has managed to win three of his last four runs, but did he beat much last time around? I'm not so sure, and I think at the current odds I'd happily give a chance to the Donald McCain horse who has a decent pedigree, being related to Cilaos Emery, Amalfi Doug & Gold Emery (was a selection the other day but was a NR) and is making his handicap debut.

Market Rasen 3:10

Considering I said that bumper races aren't my cup of tea not long ago, I've got another for today and that comes in the shape of Kim Bailey's UNDERCOVER LOVER.

Olly Murphy's horses have always got to be respected around this track, with it being a venue where he does very well at. He won this race two years ago, but that race he won wasn't that great of a race and that horse hasn't done much since doing so, so chances are this could be another generic bumper runner for him. However, Kim Bailey won this race last year with a very nice horse (Chianti Classico) who looks a lovely chaser in the making but could also be a very useful hurdler as he won nicely on hurdles debut and he runs earlier today at this track, so fingers crossed that he wins.

Kim Bailey is in good form at the moment (22% SR last 14 days) and does well with the small number of horses he sends to this track. The horse has a decent pedigree, being related to multiple winners including Flirtatious Girl who won a Class 1 bumper race in 2021 for Kim for the same owners, as well as winning on bumper debut when backed into 2/1F.

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