Racing tips: Unexposed marathon horse Whydah Gally looks the best bet in the North Wales National

This tip has expired. Please check our free horse racing tips section of the website to find the most up to date.

Prairie Wolf won as I expected and even though he was 6/4 when tipped up, I said I was surprised that he wasn't odds-on as the form he had was head and shoulders clear of the rest in the field and if he didn't clatter the final fence he would've won on the bridle.

Bangor-on-Dee 3:20 – Whydah Gally 5/1 (1pt, Bet365)

For the majority of the field for this North Wales Handicap Chase, they have to prove something, whereas Whydah Gally has very little to prove and looks a solid bet for this.

You have horses who have to prove whether they are capable of winning races despite being well-handicapped like Notachance and Domaine De L'Isle. Don't get me wrong, on old pieces of form they'd destroy this field off their current handicap mark, but age is a thing and their recent form is poor. You can say that Notachance has been running slightly better, but he still looks a million miles off it and considering he was miles behind Movethechains in the Surrey National at Lingfield, who was in turn smashed by Whydah Gally on his next race, he has a lot to prove still. You have others in this race who might appear to ‘need' the marathon trip, but until they prove themselves at the trip, they are a risky bet. Gold Emery will have followers for this race as he is trained by Donald McCain who loves having winners at this track, he stays 3m well on testing ground, but I wouldn't say he's screaming out for the step up to 3m 5f, as over shorter he looks tired. To me, Whydah Gally looks to have more to give at this type of trip, and even off a 6lb higher mark for winning at Lingfield, I think a repeat performance or anywhere near that run should make him very difficult to beat.

I think the form of the Lingfield run was a tremendous effort from a horse who had never won over fences. He had run quite poorly over the larger obstacles and that's why Joe Tizzard popped him back over hurdles before his win at Lingfield in the National race, but his jumping was spot on at Lingfield, he travelled like a dream, stayed on powerfully to deny my selection on the day who looked well-handicapped, and is still probably well-handicapped off his changed mark. This race doesn't appear to be as strong as the Lingfield race, and for that reason, he has to be the bet in this race, even though he is at the top of the market.

The quick turnaround of 15 days is my main concern for Whydah Gally, but given that Joe Tizzard has never sent a runner to the track before (also sends another horse), you'd like to think that he has come out of the race perfectly fine. It's not like he is carrying a penalty and is expected to go up more than the penalty so they have to make the most out of his mark, so I think he will be 100% ready to fire.

Horse Racing Tips

🔗 Share Your Horse Racing Tips on Social Media