Rizz managed to land another winning selection on Friday with his main fancy Lyrical Genius doing enough under a determined Sean Bowen ride.
Presentandcounting was Rizzel's other selection and ran a disappointing race under jockey Gina Andrews. Gina went to the front and the horse traveled well for a short spell but her mount was pestered for the lead throughout and effort dwindled out.
Cairnzy's Tips
My Drogo 15/8 – Haydock 16:25
I was a huge fan of this horse when trained by Dan Skelton, but injuries were his main downfall under that yard and he has since switched hands to Edward William Walker.
My Drogo was a very nice horse in his pomp, being a previous Grade One winning move hurdler back in the day before hindered by injuries. His last victory when trained by the Skeletons came at Cheltenham when he romped home to win by a comfortable 7L ahead of Torn and Frayed and previous to that he got the better of the very likable Minella Drama who won a decent race this year already at Aintree when beating home the likes of Ahoy Senor, Stage Star and the Paul Nicholls trained Hitman in a competitive Grade 2 contest.
My Drogo has only raced the two times under new trainer Edward Walker, both of which came in P2P races at Larkhill recently. He made in seasonal debut during the Christmas period but finished a well-beaten third on that occasion. You can easily forgive that effort given the horse was making his return to the track after nearly a full year off. My selection was able to build on that effort to win a p2p at the same track the following month, making no mistake to win comfortably by 12L under jockey William Biddick.
There is no doubt that this previous 155-rated horse is far superior on his day to the remainder of the field and with William Biddick retaining the ride for connections, I think My Drogo has a good chance of catching up on some lost time.
Brentford Hope ( Betting without Burdett Road ) 11/4 – Wincanton 1.36
Your most likely winner of the contest is of course the rapidly improving Burdett Road but at 4/6 I wouldn't be getting involved and opted to look for an alternative value angle into this race.
Again, I thought Golden Ace was short in the market at 9/4 and despite receiving weight from his rivals, he hasn't exactly taken advantage of that factor in the past.
My eye was immediately drawn to Harry Derham's consistent type in Brentford Hope who was last seen finishing second to the almighty Constitution Hill at Cheltenham last month. A 3L defeat on paper reads well but if you follow racing and watched the race you'll know that Constitution Hill barely got out of third gear. With that said, I thought Brentford Hope ran a cracker and if that contest hasn't taken its toll then a repeat performance I think could see him bang there. A price of 11/4 betting without Burdett Road seems a fair price and one that I'm more than happy to get involved in.
Pic D'Orhy 13/8 – Ascot 3.37
Backing the Paul Nicholls yard has hardly been kind to us this jumps season but it's hard to get away from his runner in Pic D'Orhy who looks to have the most solid claims of landing this contest.
We have some nice types on show here in the shape of Corbett's Cross and L'Homme Presse, particularly L'Homme Presse who arrives here on the back of a Grade 2 success at Cheltenham last month. With that said, both of those horses enjoy a stamina test, and I feel this trip of 2m5f is probably on the shorter side of ideal for both of them.
Ascot is a stiff track and one that can suit front runners if getting an uncontested lead. Pic D'Orhy who won this same contest 12 months ago is surely the one to go forward and try and make all under Harry Cobden. He's a sound jumper and arrives here with an already impressive record at the track. My selection made his seasonal reappearance in November of last year winning comfortably under Harry Cobden three and a half lengths. A lot of Paul Nicholl's string have needed a run or two this term and I'm sure he was delighted to see his star win at the first time of asking after a break.
