Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
It’s always annoying when you light on what you feel to be a sneaky pick that will sail under most radars and then discover, au contraire, all eyes are looking in the same direction. So it is with West Wizard in today’s third race at Ffos Las.
I like Paul Morgan as a trainer of handicap chasers and ended up thinking he had a chance here with a horse who’d shown some promise on his first start for the yard. But I fondly imagined the odds would be propped up by West Wizard’s profile as a disappointing horse who had outstayed his welcome at two more high-profile yards.
Alas, the booking of Davy Russell may have put this one’s head over the parapet of popularity. West Wizard opened at an upsetting 11-4 and has now shortened to a simply unacceptable 9-4. Perhaps he’ll win but he can do it without my support.
Instead, my interest at the Welsh track will be in 4-1 about Bingo D’Olivate (2.20), from the Noel Williams yard that had a Cheltenham winner the other day and could be hitting form. He went up 11lb for an impressive Newbury success on his handicap debut in the spring but may still be on a beatable rating. His reappearance at Lingfield was probably needed, as he went well until a late mistake caused him to tire.
I also like 7-2 about Walk On Al (3.20), who seems to have joined Fergal O’Brien on a handy mark. This eight-year-old was a distant second of 17 at Chepstow on his first try for the yard last month and can do better again.
Anna Newton-Smith is not a trainer I often side with but she sometimes gets winners at Plumpton and, if I recall correctly, she was unlucky not to get one on this very card a year ago. She heads there today with Albatros De Guye (2.00), an 8-1 shot with Paddy Brennan interestingly booked.
Twice a winner of handicap chases last season and only 6lb higher than for the second of those, this six-year-old might be suited by this step up in trip. He surely needed his reappearance run when pulled up at Uttoxeter and my main concern here is that he might need it again.
It was rattling around in my mind that Simon Walker, that most reliable of amateur jockeys, was perhaps becoming less effective as he rumbles towards the end of a long and productive career. This just goes to show the value of checking your impressions against hard evidence because Walker is, in fact, having one of his two best years since he started on the Flat in 1992.
He’s had 10 winners (at a 27% strike-rate), which is just two short of the peak he achieved in 2009. Stats for today’s opener at Wolverhampton show he has had 10 course wins in recent seasons against just one for his eight rival jockeys lumped together.
Walker’s conveyance today is Polar Forest (2.10), who had tumbled to a mark 16lb below his winning rating from last year when scoring at Newcastle last time. He’s only 4lb higher and another big run seems on the cards at 5-4.
