One of Tuesday's runners was a non-runner, which left us with two.
Ettore drifted out to 4/1, but the majority of that happened overnight. He was shocking, and over a few obstacles, it looked like he had never seen a hurdle in his life. I expected a lot better, considering it was the sole runner on the card for Nicky and Nico.
The Gypsy Davey showed more than he had done in his previous runs and would've given himself a better chance of at least finishing second place if he hadn't made some fairly bad blunders. I'd be happy enough to give him a chance at Hereford during the summer.
Flash Man 2/1 (1pt) – Fontwell 6.12
I think it's always a decent-sized risk backing a juvenile against the older horses, especially when they have to carry a penalty. However, I was impressed by Flash Man at Plumpton, and I think there could be more to come.
This race doesn't appear to be the strongest, so Flash Man has a nice opportunity to get away with carrying a penalty against a bunch of other juveniles and a handful of older horses. He beat a 120-rated five-year-old on his last start, who was an odds-on shot. He won despite not doing a lot right. He made mistakes towards the end and showed his inexperience over hurdles by wandering around, but still managed to win by an easy five lengths.
The ground is good, good to soft in places at the time of writing. They are watering the track, and are expecting a couple of millimetres to land late Tuesday/early Wednesday hours. That should give it enough time to dry out slightly, which should be good news, as he won on good ground last time out. He was a decent flat handicapper in France, and has form on soft ground, so it's not the end of the world if it becomes good to soft.
Wait Geordie 2/1 (1pt) – Chester 1.30
This is a race I'd normally sit and watch, but we know that Michael Owen's yard (Hugo Palmer trainer) targets this meeting, with it being their local track. They sent Ardisia for this race last year, so they like to put forward a good horse, so I wanted to take a chance on Wait Geordie.
This lad knew his job at Bath on his debut. He bounced from the stalls and made all. The other tried to pester him, but he was too good for them and was pulling away at the finish. The form of the race looks decent, with a winner from a placed horse and a couple of other solid efforts. The favourite for that race didn't run as the market expected, but Richard Hannon did mention in an interview that he was going to win, so he must be a decent horse.
Oisin Murphy takes the ride, and he has a very good strike rate for Hugo since he moved up North. Oisin had a 32% strike rate when riding for this yard last year, and a 34% in 2024.
He has been drawn in stall 3, which is probably the ideal draw. If he gets a good break, he can cut across and get a handy position.
GambleAware