A Pai De Nom crushed my heart with his defeat at Uttoxeter.
I'm not sure if he's a bridle horse or if Harry Skelton was far too confident. Either way, the horse traded at 1.01 on the exchange for £3000 and got beaten. I'd be lying if I weren't to say that I wasn't counting my money two furlongs from home.
Neo King was held up in usual style and looked booked for a place in the Midlands National. The horse was in fourth place approaching two from home, with a couple of furlongs to travel, and Ben Jones decided to pull the horse up. Ben knows what is right to do, but it feels like a strange decision. Maybe, with the situation with Envoi Allen, that played into his mind.
Chuggy was atrocious; nothing else needs to be said.
Kalista Love 7/2 (1pt) – Chepstow 5.05
For a Class 4 (0-120), this is a decent race. You can easily give a chance to every runner in the race, which is not ideal from a betting standpoint. Kalista Love stood out as the best chance of winning.
Backing mares against the geldings is never an ideal scenario, but she is 2/4 over fences and arrives in good form. She beat Largy Force on her chasing debut, which has seen the form franked. She then suffered two defeats. One in a Class 3 race at Cheltenham, where she finished 5th/15, and the other over 3m 2f, where she didn't stay and bumped into House Of Habsburg, who is a progressive horse.
Last time out, she returned to winning ways, beating a previous Class 2 winner from their last run by 7L. She has gone up 5lbs in the weights for that run, and I thought that gave her a solid chance of winning a second in a row.
Roccontier 6/5 (1pt) – Market Rasen 1.47
It's not great odds on Roccontier for his hurdling debut, but it looks like Nicky Henderson has found a nice opportunity for his horse to win on debut.
This is a juvenile race, consisting of horses with not fantastic form. The others in the field have the experience edge of a couple of races, which can be key, but if Roccontier is average at the very least, he should be winning this race quite comfortably.
He has a solid jumps pedigree, and is related to Fancy Foundations, Puffin Bay and Rock On By, who are all winning in this sphere.
Nico has made the trip up to Market Rasen for one ride, which is always nice to see when backing a Henderson runner. Nicky has one runner at Chepstow, who is an odds-on shot, and would be an easier win on paper.
GambleAware