Racing tips: Venetia Williams aims to make it four wins on the bounce in the Mares race at Hereford

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Inthepocket was impressive at Naas on Tuesday even though the winning margin was small. He travelled very strongly into the race and was doing nothing when he hit the front so I think he had plenty more to give.

Frenchy Du Large didn't jump great but was well backed into 3/1F after taking a drift in the morning, so fingers were burnt yet again. Flann was apparently taken down by a faller, I didn't quite see that happen as I looked away from my screen and then looked back and he wasn't in the race. Someone on Twitter confirmed that for me, and it's frustrating as I felt like he had a great chance of winning and was jumping well up until that point. Hopefully, the horse who fell is okay and Flann didn't sustain any injuries from colliding with that horse.

Hereford 2:15

I can see why Credo is fancied to win this race on the back of her impressive win at Chepstow but I think FLOWING CADENZA could reverse that form even though it looks like a tough ask.

My selection received 15lbs from that winner last time when finishing 19L behind Credo, today he receives as extra 6 lbs, so is 21 lbs lighter than the top weight. For a stable debut I thought she ran a good race, she pulled 4 lengths clear of the third horse and when you consider that was her first run in 225 days it was a decent effort to finish as runner-up. Also, with that being her first start for Venetia, there was a strong possibility that they were still getting to the grips of her and understanding her run style and getting her embedded into the training system at the new yard. I think it's of major notice that Venetia has opted for this race at Hereford considering she has won the last three renewals, so she clearly thinks this mare is the horse in her stable which could improve her fantastic record.

She has only had 6 starts over fences so is still somewhat unexposed, and something which Venetia is very good at is improving her horses when they make the transition to chasing. Obviously, she'd already had experience over fences for Bob Buckler, but it goes back to my point of probably being able to improve for the move to Venetia.

Hereford 3:15

On paper, this looks like a competitive race but I don't think it is that. I really do like the chances of LLANDINABO LAD who has made a very encouraging start to his chasing career.

There are some interesting types in this race including the lightly raced 4yo French recruit from the Harry Fry stable and the Tom George runner who ran well last time around, but I feel like Tom Symonds' 7yo is the class angle in the race, even though his handicap mark has declined since 2020. He finished runner-up at Carlisle behind Bass Rock who looks like a really nice chaser who was probably well handicapped off a mark of 132 as he ran out a very good winner. Llandinabo Lad ran well to finish second and enjoyed running from the front, so I expect similar tactics to be deployed again in this.

He was once a decent performer over hurdles, winning a Listed race and then finishing 2nd in a Grade 2 behind My Drogo who is a Grade 1 winner and a horse who was expected to do big things over fences until suffering from injuries. Soft ground seems like his ideal conditions, which he should get today and if he jumps as well as he did last time he could be tough to peg back.

Taunton 1:23

SOME DETAIL is becoming a bit of a cliff horse of mine and I am going to be backing him again today in this. I thought he ran well to finish 4th at Exeter over a longer trip, in what was a competitive race. I'm not a fan of his hold-up style of running as it means he always has a lot of work to do to catch up to those ahead of him and it also means he can't make any mistakes as he is already on the back foot. I'm hoping that with Harry Cobden in the saddle they might be willing to take a different approach. The usual rider, Tom Buckley has been subbed off for Harry and that is a positive sign for a yard that doesn't use Cobden all that much (6 runs for the yard).

I am a firm believer that he is still capable of winning off his handicap mark and bringing him to Taunton could bring out the improvement needed to win this, being a course he has previously won at. The drop back in trip isn't as much of a concern as it might've been before last time around as I thought he would like the step up to 3m 6f but that didn't seem to happen, the drop back in class will help and I think with a clear round of jumping he'll be bang there.

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