The gamble of giving four a chance on Friday didn't pay off, with only one running well.
Zoum Zoum is gone at the game. He had every chance of bouncing back to form with conditions there for him, but he showed very little, and based on that, I think retirement beckons despite him only being a five-year-old.
Angel Gabriel was raced prominently and didn't have excuses like last time. He got swamped with a couple of furlongs to go and didn't have the gears to challenge.
Topwarrior should have won, but got the door shut in his face on at least three occasions. He had no right to finish as close as he did, but that cemented that he would have won with a clear passage.
On The River 12/1 (EW, 3pl) – Doncaster 3.19
Surely we're getting the odds available on On The River due to him not being the sexiest of horses in the race.
Based on the ground and his most recent performance, he has to be in the conversation of being placed at the very least. There are younger, more unexposed h0rses in the lineup, but we don't know how they'll deal with conditions. We know for a fact that On The River will relish the heavy ground, and if he gets beaten by a horse who is unexposed, then that's fine by me.
For the most part, his record on heavy ground is very solid. He has won twice and finished as a runner-up three times, with two of those coming in the last two months. He is running off the same handicap mark that he did last time when he was second to an impressive unexposed sort, so he has a chance to go close once more.
Prosperitas 7/2 – Doncaster 5.05
Terry Kent is a trainer who constantly goes under the radar, and despite having a 13% strike rate (I still deem it very good), his horses tend to go overlooked. His horse in this race is at the top of the market (7/2), and I think he deserves to be in that spot.
He won on this card twelve months ago, and made it 2/2 on heavy ground in his career. He is 0/10 on turf when not running on his preferred surface. With the ground staying as heavy with further rain landing at Doncaster, it looked like a no-brainer to side with him.
He beat On The River last year at Doncaster, and it's fitting that I also fancy that horse to run well earlier in the card. It's a solid piece of form given that On The River is a strong horse in handicaps of this nature on heavy ground.
GambleAware