It's always very frustrating when you get non-runners, and we did on Wednesday, which meant we had one runner remaining.
The only runner of the day was poor, but if you missed the race and saw the result, which says he finished second, you might have thought he ran well…He didn't. He made a bad blunder early on, and was on the back foot from that moment, and never looked like threatening the winner. Towards the end, it looked like the winner was getting tired, but he was just idling, and that meant that any chance we had was gone very quickly.
Northern Olympian 5/4 – Market Rasen 12.06
Based on what we've seen from these horses over hurdles/jumps, I think Northern Olympian has made the best start and is definitely open to more progress.
He made his stable debut in October after moving from Germany as a flat horse. He was a useful horse on the flat, winning three races and recording a career best RPR of 96 and is currently rated 88. He must have needed the run on his first start at Worcester as he as not fancied in the market whatsoever, and that's normally a telltale sign from the Skelton yard.
He finished third on his hurdling debut, and the form has been franked since. The winner was fourth in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham and the runner-up won on his next start.
Tell The Tale 7/4 – Market Rasen 1.16
I've already tipped a winner from these connections in a similar race the other day, and I think that Tell The Tale will follow up on his recent chase debut success.
This isn't a free win by any means, but we don't know how good the others in this field are. The majority of the runners are having their first start over fences, so they could easily be better than what we've seen from them over hurdles, but they've got to be half decent if they want to give weight away and a fitness edge to Tell The Tale.
Tell The Tale was well supported on his chase debut at Fontwell last time out, as he was sent off as the 3/1 favourite. He showed that the money was correct and was a runaway winner, pecking on landing at the last but won with plenty to spare. The Racing Post think he ran to a mark of 110, and deemed the runner-up to have had a smart performance for the grade too.
He has gone up 6lbs for the easy success, and I don't think that'll be able to stop him from going in again.
GambleAware