Hi all,
As expected, it’s been a quiet week on the selections front. Well, I’m back today and looking at races at Meydan and Huntingdon.
Plenty of racing on Friday with five meeting across Britain & Ireland. The best race is probably the Chatteris Fen Juvenile Hurdle (3.00) at Huntingdon. The rest of Friday’s racing is pretty moderate stuff. Hence why today I’m off to Meydan to have a look at a couple of races at the Dubai Winter Carnival.
Today’s betting advice can be found at the end of the main piece.
Meydan
4:20 – Al Rashidiya (Group 2) (1m 1f)
Ottoman Fleet, a steady improver in Britain last year produced a career best effort when winning a Newmarket Listed race (1m 2f) last October. The drop back to 1m 1f shouldn’t pose to many problems for the 4-year-old has just had six career starts is likely capable of better.
San Donato, formerly with Roger Varian, returned from a 19 month absence looking better than ever when winning a Listed race at Abu Dhabi last month. The 7-year-old stays a mile and should be fine of today’s extra furlong. Not without a chance of building on his last time out effort.
A bigger rival to Ottoman Fleet could be French challenger Zagrey who returned from a 14 week layoff to win a Chantilly Listed race in October. He’s 4-9 in France and today’s intermediate distance could prove ideal for the 4-year-old.
5:30 – Azizi Riviera (Handicap) (1m)
Sense of Wisdom looks the Charlie Appleby second string on jockey bookings. However, the 4-year-old could be open to the most progress on just his third career start on handicap debut.
Positive Impact looked well ahead of his mark when winning a Kempton handicap at the end of September. A 6lb rise in the weights doesn’t look harsh and he should go well. However, he’s back on grass today and stall 16 could be better for a prominent racer.
Ouzo is a bit of a long losing run but he did well for the switch to the Jamie Osborne yard last season. Running well in some competitive mile handicaps including an unlucky length 3rd of 11 to Sinjaari at Sandown in July off 2lb higher. Looks sure to go well here and will be hard to come keep out of the frame.
Huntingdon
3:00 – Weatherbys Chatteris Fen Juvenile Hurdle (Class 2) (2m)
Perseus Way will find this easier than the Grade 2 Finale Hurdle at Chepstow he finished third in last time. He’s well clear on ratings but he does face several rivals who are capable of better over timber. None more so than Samuel Spade and Chaos Control who were first and second on their hurdle debut at Kempton 17-days ago.
Despereaux won over C&D in November and is capable of better for an inform yard.
Start In Front had a few runs over hurdles when trained in France and made a winning stable debut for Rebecca Menzies at Wetherby over Christmas. His jumping was good last time and if he jumps as well here looks the biggest rival to likely favourite Perseus Way.
3:30 – Alright Chief ran like his seasonal reappearance was needed when a well beaten 3rd of 7 at Southwell 52-days ago. A C&D winner (heavy) last December the 11-year-old should be more competitive here.
Betting Advice:
Meydan
4:20 – Zagrey – 1pt win – 13/2 @ Bet365 and San Donato – 1pt win – 12/1 @ Bet365
5:30 – Ouzo – 1pt win – 10/1 @ Bet365
Huntingdon
3:00 – Start In Front – 1pt win – 6/1 @ Bet365
3:30 – Alright Chief – 1pt win – 7/1 @ Bet365 & Coral
Cheers
John