Unfortunately, we came away on Wednesday with no winners from the two selections.
Bashful Boy travelled well into the race, but couldn't go with the eventual front two.
Lexington Blitz sat behind a decent pace at Catterick, and when he was pulled wide, I thought he was going to go and win, but he couldn't go past Glory Fighter.
Criminal 4/1 (1pt) – Southwell 5.45
The Racing League put up some of the most competitive races outside of premier race meetings and the heritage handicaps, and the opener is no different. I think you can write off a couple in this race, but in races like this, I do like to focus on the unexposed horses who could go on to be much better.
At the top of my list was Criminal, running in the Irish silks and trained by Richard Hughes. I firmly believe that this horse is on a very good handicap mark, and it would be a shock if he wasn't able to improve past his current rating of 81. The form of his four career runs makes him of major interest in handicaps, and last time out, he showed that he can mix it in handicap races.
Last time out, he was behind a progressive William Haggas horse, who has since won again and completed a hat-trick of wins, and is now rated 92. The third-placed horse was placed on their next start, and the fourth horse won and then finished as a runner-up, losing by a neck. Prior to the handicap debut run at Ascot, he bumped into some useful horses. He was fourth on debut; the winner (Ernst Blofeld) and runner-up (Ammes) have both been competitive in strong handicaps this season. Also, runs behind Mister Winton, Daiquri Bay, Nahraan and Cajole have all boosted the form lines of Criminal.
The only question mark for Criminal is the surface. He showed a liking to Kempton, which is Polytrack, so this Tapeta surface is still an unknown. If he handles it, he has to be in with a very solid chance.
Philanthropist 10/3 (1pt) – Southwell 6.15
I think we were desperately unlucky not to walk away with a win on Philanthropist just over a week ago.
He got checked in running when travelling extremely well, and had the door slammed in his face. The horse lost a lot of his momentum and had to accelerate again to get back up to top speed, which is always a hard task. He eventually finished third, finishing 0.75L behind the winner, which was still a cracking effort with all things considered.
His handicap mark is due to go up by 2lbs in the near future, so he is ahead of the handicapper whilst running in this race. A repeat performance, apart from the lack of a clear run, will see him tough to beat in this. He has shown a massive liking to Southwell and the form of his run at this venue earlier in the season has been franked by the runner-up on multiple of occasions.
GambleAware