Seven races on Channel 4 today, and plenty of value on offer in a cracking day's action. Find out which horses are overpriced in our armchair race by race guide, including a 6-1 shot expected to go in at Newbury.
2.05 Newbury - Bumper winner Full Of Joy has shown plenty of promise in his three outings over hurdles without troubling the judge, and gets into his first handicap on a mark which certainly looks exploitable. Jonjo O'Neill's five-year-old seems to have been tenderly handled with this type of race in mind and an opening mark of 105 coudl seriously underestimate his ability. It could also be significant that AP McCoy teams up with him for ths first time today, and at 7-1 he looks overpriced for a JP McManus owned horse running in his first handicap and could easily go off favourite for this if the anticipated gamble unfolds.
2.20 Doncaster - I have already alluded to the chances of Squadron - see http://www.puntinplay.com/story/squadron-can-gun-down-rivals-at-a-juicy-8-1 - and strongly believe he is terrific value and the one they all have to beat. The main danger could be the enigmatic Galaxy Rock if he is on a going day, but at 8-1 Squadron is definitely the value.
2.35 Newbury - Nicky Henderson's Trabolgan is once again a ludicrously short price and is definitely worth taking on. The one I am really keen on is course specialist Gone To Lunch who has disappointed since finishing fifth to Denman in the Hennessy but is now back down to an extremely attractive handicap mark as a result. Jeremy Scott's 10-year-old now runs off a 6lb lower mark than he did in the Hennessy and is also 3lb lower than when finishing second to Hello Bud in the Scottish National. His mark of 145 is just 2lb above that of when he was last successful, and the three times course winner should be far shorter than the 6-1 available.
2.50 Kempton - It could pay to take a chance with Michael Scudamore's Raki Rose who was quietly fancied to defy a lengthy absence at Leicester four days ago only to fall when still travelling strongly at the head of affairs. The gelding had been off the course for two years before that run, but when last seen only went down by a short-head to Hello Bud at Huntingdon and the winner went on to land the Scottish National and is now rated 140. That makes Raki Rose poitentially very well handicapped off a mark of just 93, and if none the worse for his tumble he should go very close in this line up at a tasty 12-1
3.10 Newbury - Jonjo O'Neill and Tony McCoy are fancied to make it a double on the day with the progressive Can't Buy Time. The eight-year-old has develeoped into a really useful handicapper and put up a really good performance when scoring at Cheltenham on New Year's Day when beating the consistent Private Be. The fourth home that day was Nigel Twiston-Davies' Razor Royale, and he went on to land the Rcaing Post Chase at Kempton last weekend. Given the fact that the selection was only getting 2lb from Razor it was an extremely good effort to beat him by just over nine lengths and a repeat of that effort should be good enough for him to follow up over today's shorter trip.
3.25 Doncaster - I have already put up Cloudy Lane as the value at 12-1 - see http://www.puntinplay.com/story/12-1-cloudy-lane-set-to-shine - and believe theat Donald McCain's charge looks handicapped to run a huge race. The biggest dangers look to be Possol and Nicky Henderson's very lightly raced Wogan.
3.45 Newbury - A wide open race in which it could be worth taking a chance on Tony Carrolls' Arctic Wings at 9-1. The handler has his team in terrific form, and Arctic Wings really caught the eye last time out when travelling really strong in a decent race up at Musselburgh when finishing sixth to Eradicate. That run suggested to me that he would be winning sooner rather than later and he is now racing off a mark 1lb lower than when he was last successful at Doncaster. He beat some useful types that day and with his optimum conditions today is expected to put up a really bold showing.
Recommended bets; 3pts each-way Full of Joy (7-1 Stan James); 5pts each-way Gone to Lunch (6-1 Betfred); 2pts each-way Arctic Wings 9-1 Stan James)
Already advised: 5pts each-way Cloudy Lane 12-1; 3pts each-way Squadron 8-1
