Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
I had an enjoyable morning at Nigel Twiston-Davies’s yard yesterday, watching the horses getting ever fitter as they climbed his hillside gallop with grappling hooks and crampons. The vistas around there are unsurpassably beautiful, if you like your countryside in essentially four colours: green grass, blue sky, gleaming Cotswold stone and mud over the bottom two feet of everything.
He made his familiar complaint about his horses being underestimated in the betting and I have a lot of sympathy. I don’t think he means every race because we can all spot a Twiston-Davies horse in an early-autumn novice handicap chase and those horses probably go off shorter than they should. But Splash Of Ginge’s 25-1 score in the BetVictor suggests we have trouble seeing his major handicap winners coming, even when we know he’s in form and even in a race he’s won several times before.
Continuing that thought, what is his Double Ross doing at 33-1 for Saturday’s Ladbrokes Trophy? He was third in the race last year under an aggressive ride, gets in 2lb lower this time and will be ridden with more restraint (or at least, that’s the plan) on what should be a drying surface.
Oh, I’m not saying he’s the most likely winner or that I’m going to tip him in Saturday’s paper. But his chance is better than 33-1 and you’d think there would be more interest, given that his trainer has been mopping up the big steeplechases in the past month.
Twiston-Davies has the younger, more fancied Cogry in the race but I didn’t get the impression, talking to him yesterday, that he felt there was an enormous amount between them. He’s happy to have two chances in the race formerly known as the Hennessy.
There’s 2-1 about today’s nap, Sydeny De Baune (12.35), who tackles fences for the first time at Hereford. This is a Robert Walford project who showed little in his initial forays over hurdles last season but impressed me on his return at Chepstow last month, beating an odds-on shot from the Jack Barber yard. Chasing should be his game and he should have a bit in hand, even on his revised mark.
At Wetherby, 10-1 is bigger than I expected about Fin And Game (1.25), from the Donald McCain yard that is having its best November for four years. This five-year-old is closely related to Peddlers Cross, McCain’s Champion Hurdle runner-up, and showed a good level of ability on his bumper debut in January. With the yard going so well, I’ll take a chance on this one’s hurdles debut.
There’s been some money for Road To Rome (2.30), who is 7s from the opening 10-1. He’s having his first run for Oliver Sherwood, after leaving a stable with a 4% strike-rate in recent seasons. He was second of seven when last seen, on only the second handicap start of his career.
Tips for all Wednesday races
Wolverhampton
12.15 Secret Return 12.45 Zapateado 1.15 Monteja 1.45 Ghanimah 2.20 Primero 2.50 Spinning Melody 3.25 Spin Top 3.55 Haven’s View
Wetherby
12.25 Bid Adieu 12.55 Secrete Stream 1.25 Fin And Game 2.00 Gino Trail 2.30 Road To Rome 3.05 Shantung 3.35 Belle Amis (nb)
Hereford
12.35 Sydney De Baune (nap) 1.05 Stage Summit 1.35 Bear Spirit 2.10 Plantagenet 2.40 Undefined Beauty 3.15 Thomas Blossom 3.45 Cydercourt
Kempton
4.10 Ispolini 4.40 Lashabeeh 5.10 Ellen Gates 5.40 Run With Pride 6.10 Reckless Endeavour 6.40 Great Court 7.10 Sky Eagle 7.40 Sonnet Rose
