It hasn't been the start to June that I was hoping for. Tuesday carried on a bad streak of form with a poor run by Too Darn Good and a runner-up finish by Crepe Suzette.
The ride on Crepe Suzette was controversial. In hindsight, I would have liked Rab Havlin to have positioned his horse closer to the leaders before turning for home. The horse took a lifetime to get rolling, and by the time she hit top gear, it was too late.
In the opener, Too Darn Good was fairly hopeless. After producing a decent debut effort at Bath, I was expecting a much better effort today.
Bust A Moon 13/2 (0.5pt EW) – Yarmouth 4.15
Ian McInnes is a trainer that 99% of the racing public would have never heard of. He is a trainer based in East Yorkshire who doesn't have too many horses and doesn't venture too far from his local tracks. In recent years, he hasn't sent many runners to the southern tracks, and that's why his runner Bust A Moon caught my attention.
Ian's horse is making his debut for the yard today at Yarmouth, so it will be interesting to see if he can translate the form from when being trained by David Evans. Prior to last time out, Bust A Moon's form was very solid. He won a seller at Beverley, then was a runner-up at Chepstow to a horse who was always going to be tough to beat. The winner has since won again and is now rated 11 lbs higher than when Bust A Moon forced him to a small margin victory.
I think we can ignore the final run for David Evans as that was over seven furlongs, which is evidently too far for this sprinter. Now they are reverting back to five furlongs, I am expecting a much better showing.
Royal Velvet 11/4 (1pt) – Yarmouth 4.45
In recent days/weeks, I've been going against my usual tactic of backing in-form horses, today I'm reverting back to the tried and tested. Royal Velvet rounds up Wednesday's racing thread.
It was hard not to be impressed by Royal Velvet's recent run at Newmarket. She won a Class 4 race at Newmarket by 2.5L, recording a strong RPR for the grade. It looks like this daughter of Lightning Spear has improved from the winter period, as her two runs this season have looked very strong. On debut, she finished in the middle of the pack over today's course and distance. She was sent off as the favourite, so a big run was expected, but she must not have been 100% fit. She avenged that defeat with the win at Newmarket last time out, leaving the impression there's plenty more to come.
The handicapper has taken a decent standpoint for that Newmarket win, putting her up by 5lbs. The rise in the handicap will make this tougher, but given she rides Yarmouth very well (two wins from three appearances), I think she can win again.
GambleAware