Today’s best bets
Sort It Out (3.35) has some extremely strong form in handicap hurdles and the six-year-old is very interesting at odds of 14-1 for the Ladbroke, Ascot’s valuable pre-Christmas handicap hurdle. He would be a third Irish-trained winner in four years.
From the midpoint of last season, Sort It Out shot up the ratings, scoring at Punchestown and Leopardstown before running second in the County Hurdle, when only the extraordinary Wicklow Brave got away from him. He finished just ahead of Quick Jack and Max Dynamite who went on to fill the first two places in this summer’s Galway Hurdle.
Max Dynamite has since been runner-up in the Melbourne Cup. Quick Jack was third in the Cesarewitch. Meanwhile, Sempre Medici, sixth in the County, was last seen running second in Cheltenham’s International.
Sort It Out himself went on to win a valuable contest at the Punchestown Festival and I feel he should remain very competitive from his revised mark. So why is he available at double-figure odds?
Well, it’s his seasonal reappearance and perhaps he will be better for it, though I think that possibility is factored into the price and then some. Perhaps the betting market is also put off by the fact that he is owned by JP McManus, whose principal jockey, Barry Geraghty, rides one of McManus’s other horses in the same race, Waxies Dargle.
But McManus has won many a handicap with a horse other than his seeming first string, a natural consequence of owning so many. Sort It Out is to be ridden by Mark Walsh, who has won on him twice, while Geraghty has never been on him in public.
Sternrubin has more to offer but making all will be a tough task in this contest. Some Plan should be fitter than on his reappearance, though it is only a fortnight since he cut out rather alarmingly at Sandown and he might be best watched again.
Noble Inn is feared most. From the Willie Mullins yard, he won with such ease at Clonmel last time that he could still be a long way ahead of his revised rating.
1.50 Ascot One or two of the fancied horses here are a little unconvincing, so a chance is taken on Marcilhac, a winning chaser in his native France who may be very well treated, judging by his close second to Carole’s Destrier at Kempton in March last year. He has not run since but it is not beyond Venetia Williams to have him ready for this after such an absence.
2.05 Haydock Another ex-French type, Montdragon had a couple of runs for Jonjo O’Neill in the spring, winning a novice hurdle at Warwick in May. He needs to have improved over the summer to make this rating workable but that seems likely.
2.25 Ascot With the Nick Williams string in form after a slow start to the core season, it may be folly to oppose Reve De Sivola in the one race he knows how to win. The veteran has carried off the Long Walk for the last three years and his performance in reeling in Zarkandar last winter might count as a career best. At the age of 10, he might be past his peak but his defeat at Auteuil in November was a better effort than he managed in his prep run last season. On Cheltenham form, he has no chance with Saphir Du Rheu but Cheltenham has never suited him so well as this place. It remains to be seen how effective Saphir Du Rheu can be, having had a second stint over fences. The progressive Thistlecrack, a course winner, may be more of a threat.
2.40 Haydock Having won one of the season’s stronger novice handicap chases, Spookydooky makes a lot of appeal against more experienced rivals. He probably remains well treated on his revised mark, is in form and appears to stay strongly. It requires hard work to make a similarly strong case for any of his rivals.
3.00 Ascot A talking horse for years, Pendra finally did something to justify his reputation when scoring over this course and distance last month. A 7lb rise was quite conservative in light of what he achieved and it may pay to side with him again, on the basis that this seven-year-old finally has the strength and the experience to make full use of his talent. Cheekpieces, applied for his last two runs and again here, may have been helping. It is a mild concern that Charlie Longsdon’s runners are not generally going so well as when he last ran.
