Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
We have extremes of going for today’s jumps fixtures, to the point where I’m surprised the fields have held up as well as they have. At Hexham, the going is heavy while Leicester offers us firm, with a GoingStick on the chase course of 10.5 which would be exceptionally high even for Flat racing.
As usual for Leicester, the hurdles track has retained more moisture but it will still be on the fast side and I wonder if that might assist a revival from Cousin Khee (1.25). Hughie Morrison’s veteran has been well beaten in every outing for about a year but had plenty of success before that, including in Flat races on the turf and all-weather.
You’d never say he needs a dry surface but he’ll certainly cope, which cannot be assumed of most of his rivals. He’s fallen to a winning mark, 3lb below the one from which he scored by seven lengths last autumn, and has gone well fresh in the past, suggesting that this might be the time to catch him, after almost half a year to freshen up. He’s 12-1.
At Hexham, there has been some support for Just Georgie (2.15), now an 11-4 shot for a handicap chase. There hasn’t been much promise from his fences outings so far, but it’s far too early to be negative about this points winner, who ought to be able to show his ability, if he has any, today.
He made his chasing debut at Bangor in October, when the ground was on the fast side for him, his three rivals came from high-profile yards and one of them already had a high rating. In the circumstances, it was hardly a surprise that he finished tailed off.
More might have been expected in a handicap next time but he got brought down at the second. Now he faces a really testing surface, comparable to the one he met on Boxing Day when a fair second in a novice hurdle. The third horse that day (five lengths further back, getting 10lb) recently won over fences from a slightly higher mark than Just Georgie has now.
Lucinda Russell seems to have a great fondness for Hexham, where she’s had more winners (44 at 19%) in the past four years than at any other track. No other trainer with runners there today has had half as much success.
Her Spoils Of War (3.15) is interesting in the closer, having dropped 13lb for three runs in handicaps. He was left behind on his fences debut at Musselburgh last month but this surface should help him stay in the argument until a later stage and some of his novice hurdle form suggests he might even be a bit of a blot on his current rating. He’s 6-1.
The nap is Inniscastle Lad (6.45) at Kempton tonight, where he’s 15-2 for a middle-distance handicap. From the Stuart Williams yard that is ending the year strongly, he is only 2lb higher than when scoring at Windsor in October when last seen.
Moving up in trip has helped him win four of his last seven and there could be more to come this winter, as he looks unexposed on an all-weather surface.
