Saturday’s Racing Tips – Handstands can shrug off the penalty to land a second Grade 2 win over fences

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As it has been in the last week or so, the weather carried on to be a pain, with Cairzny's only runner at Lingfield not being able to showcase their talent as Lingfield was abandoned because of the cold weather.

Rizzel's tips

Handstands 6/4 – Ffos Las 1.15

It's a bit of a pain that Handstands has to shoulder a 5lb penalty for his recent Grade 2 success at Sandown, as it makes this race competitive, whereas in my opinion, if they were racing off level weights, this wouldn't be a contest.

Handstands put the form right when winning at Sandown last time out in the Grade 2 as he was a faller on his chasing debut the time before. He has always been a horse who has been held in high regards by Ben Pauling, but he hasn't really had many tough assignments in his career to date apart from the Listed hurdle win, before flopping badly at Cheltenham and then winning a Grade 2 last time out. At the time of backing him to win his Listed novice hurdle race of Jango Baie, I thought that the form wouldn't be up to much, as I didn't rate the runner-up, who had previously won a weak Grade 1. However, I have been proven wrong as Jango Baie has become one of the best UK novice chasers of this season, winning at Cheltenham in exciting style, which has seen the form franked by the runner-up who has since won a Grade 3 by 9L.

Cherie D'Am is the main player in this race as she is a mare and gets the weight allowance, plus she has some decent form behind Johnnywho before she went to Wetherby and won a mares Listed race in a canter. I just believe that handstands form with Jango Baie is the strongest in this race, and if he is effective over fences over this shorter trip, which I think he is, then he should be tough to beat even with the penalty he has to carry.

Loch Na Keal 9/2 – Ffos 4.01

I'm hoping it's a good day for the connections of Handstands, as I fancy their horse in the bumper to start his career off with a win. Hopefully, Ffos Las manages to stay on as so far both of my Saturday selections are at the Welsh track.

Bumpers aren't the best part of jumps racing, as it's a flat race, but also because they go a crawl in 99% of the races and it turns into a sprint over the final 3f or so, thus suiting the horses who are more professional and haven't been keen throughout, but also the ones with the sharper pedigrees. Loch Na Keal is a horse with a decent pedigree for bumpers, as he is by Westerner, and has horses from the dam's side who have done well in bumpers and then become good jumps horses like Deputy Dan who is the Dam's half-brother, but that horse is also sired by Westerner. Deputy Dan was 2/3 in bumpers, winning on his second and third attempts, recording good RPRs on soft and heavy ground.

I think the punters will latch onto the Harry Cobden booking on the Rebecca Curtis horse and the Skelton runner, thus making Loch Na Keal appealing to back at bigger odds. I don't think the Curtis horse has the best of form from his run to date, and the Skelton horse doesn't have the most appealing pedigree. The Murphy horse was 12/1 on bumper debut, and that yard know when they have a good one, especially in bumpers as they are often fancied, so I thought this was a nice opportunity for the Ben Pauling horse to make a winning start.

Blind Beggar 13/2 – Chelmsford 3.15

Just in case that Ffos Las is cancelled, I'm sticking up a fancy on the AW so that we have at least one selection up for Saturday, and that selection is Blind Beggar.

This lad ran a belter at Wolverhampton just after Christmas when just touched off by the fast finishing Coachello. I thought that was a really good performance and a repeat run would see him difficult to beat. He was touched off by a horse who was on a very attractive handicap mark, and was primed to go well after running five times in a row on the turf, and then returning to the all-weather off a reduced mark. Coachello has a much better strike rate on the artificial surfaces, so the fact that Blind Beggar made it such a close race shows the form this horse is in, and as they say, you're only as good as your last run.

This race is another tough race, so I don't expect this to be a breeze, but there is a lot in Blind Beggar's favour, including being drawn in Stall 1. Ali Rawlinson likes to get handy on Blind Beggar, so given he has the hot seat of Stall 1, that should be perfect, as long as he breaks on terms. He led when they raced at Kempton the time before last where he wasn't as good as Wolverhampton, but Kempton has a long straight, which allows horses to come from off the pace a lot easier, whereas the tighter tracks like Chelmsford and Wolverhampton are made for the front runners, and I think a return to a tighter track will be beneficial.

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