Cloudy Lane is strongly fancied to take advantage of a favourable looking handicap mark in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster (3.45) at a juicy 12-1.
Donald McCain’s Grand National hope ran an absolute blinder last time out over hurdles when finishing fourth to Souffleur in a decent contest at Haydock where he travelled really well and only weakened late on to be beaten just over 11 lengths.
That run should have put him spot on for this, and the handicapper has taken a real chance in dropping his chasing mark to 151 given that he had performed creditably of ratings of 168 and 156 behind the likes of Money Trix and Our Vic prior to his Haydock spin.
He showed in those runs that he still retains all his old ability, yet is now actually racing off a mark 4lb lower than his last win in last season’s Grade 2 Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock where he battled on gamely to defeat Glasker Mill and Opera Mundi on ground which was really too soft for him.
The 10-year-old is ideally suited by good ground, as he showed when running away with this contest in 2008 off a mark of 152. He was so impressive that day that he was made favourite for the Grand National and was far from disgraced in finishing sixth to Comply Or Die.
His handicap mark suffered as a result, but he has now finally been cut some slack and has shown enough to suggest that he retains the ability needed to take advantage.
At the odds on offer he looks cracking each-way value.
Recommended bet: 5pts each-way Cloudy Lane (12-1 Ladbrokes)
