Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
I have to admit to being mildly disappointed by the peak figure for ITV Racing’s debut of 831,000. It seems to me that at least that many have now had their say about the programme in newspapers and online. From the quantity of internet-based interest yesterday, you’d have thought we were all talking about an especially provocative episode of ‘Corrie’.
Anyway, it was an increase on what Channel 4 had been getting for the same fixture in recent years, so let’s put that down as a good thing. ITV’s Saturday coverage will move to ITV4 for the rest of January and all of February, so figures will be reduced, but a significant test will be the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March.
By then, ITV’s many staffers ought to be working very productively together and hopefully there will be plenty of advance promotion to let people know where they can watch the action. Fingers crossed for a couple of million every day...
As I noted here, Rebecca Curtis has recently parted company with Jonathan Moore, who was her stable jockey until mid-December, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed down her horses. The Welsh trainer landed a couple of valuable pots at Newbury and Cheltenham over New Year and other recent runners have gone close.
I think her Truckers Glory (1.45) has more to offer, now that he goes over fences at Bangor. This chestnut, who started out in Irish points, won handily on his seasonal debut, his first time in a handicap hurdle, but seemed not to appreciate the step up to three miles in a couple of November spins.
He’s dropped back half a mile today with blinkers fitted for the first time and I think it’s reasonable to hope for a career best from what still looks a beatable mark. He’s 5-1.
Petite Power (2.50) has proved popular in the staying handicap hurdle, which looks significant because the eight-year-old makes his debut for Fergal O’Brien, having had six months off since his last outing for Ali Stronge. Stronge has had a thin time of it for the past couple of years, whereas O’Brien is going well, so there must be hope that this lightly raced sort can show improvement in just his fourth handicap outing.
On the very best of his novice hurdle form, Petite Power appears nicely weighted on a rating of 105, 11lb below the mark from which he started in handicaps. He wears a tongue tie for the first time and is 11-4.
In similar vein, Keith Dalgleish may have been able to wring improvement from the 10-year-old Dream Flyer (1.30), running for him in a handicap chase at Musselburgh after switching from Michael Smith in November. Lightly raced in recent seasons, Dream Flyer is 9lb below his most recent winning mark, from December 2014, and is down to 3-1, having also attracted support.
