One For Arthur did us a favour at Aintree on Saturday and the Grand National winner was cut yesterday from 25s to 20/1 at BetVictor to win the 2018 renewal. Remember the last horse the win the great race back-to-back was Red Rum back in 1973/74.
The flat turf season moves up apace with the first meeting of the season at Pontefract later this afternoon and there is some decent prizemoney on offer.
The 12f maiden is named in honour of High Rise the 1998 Derby winner who began his three-year-old career by winning a minor conditions event at the west Yorkshire track.
Those with experience don’t look anything out of the ordinary and the Godolphin newcomer Above Normal (2.40) might not have to live up to his name to make a winning racecourse debut. The selection has already been gelded but is half-brother to a couple of winners and the stable of Saeed bin Suroor could hardly be in better form.
The unbeaten Brian The Snail doesn’t have the best of names for a sprinter but he created a very favourable impression when winning both juvenile starts. He could be anything of course but marginal preference is for the William Haggas-trained Battered (3.10) who should appreciate this stiff six furlongs having run well in a big-field York handicap when last seen back in October.
The selection was no match for the winner on that occasion but he did beat his fifteen other rivals and is only 1lb higher this afternoon. He will get at least another furlong in time and the Haggas stable have made an excellent start to the season winning with three of their last five runners.
The booking of William Buick for Cote D’Azur is interesting in the valuable 10f handicap and he is 2lbs lower than when finishing second at York back in October – he must run well with his pipe-opener at Wolverhampton behind him.
I am going to take a chance, however, on Bahama Moon (4.10) who is a C&D winner from a 7lbs lower mark on soft ground back in October and has also had a recent run on the all-weather beating one home over an inadequate 7f at Southwell last month.
There is a good card at Exeter and I hope to see Wishfull Dreaming (2.50) get back to winning ways having fell two out when still going well at Taunton last time. The selection receives 4lbs from the hat-trick seeking Shantou Rock who is sure to make a bold bid from the front.
Westendorf palpably failed to stay three miles at Ascot last time and do watch out to see if the market speaks in favour of Treasure The Ridge who looks leniently treated on his handicap debut for a yard who like to have winners at their local track.
Meldrum Lad is likely to be short carrying just a 7lbs penalty for a fluent Huntingdon success on good ground last week but the mare Nancy’s Trix (3.20) is a winning point-to-pointer and has her first start for Tom George. The selection begins her chasing career from a potentially appealing mark and she can give the favourite plenty to think about.
Conditional jockey Jordan Canavan looked good value for his 10lbs claim when steering Clubs Are Trumps (3.50) to a comfortable success at Chepstow last week and he is taken to follow up under a 7lbs penalty for Jonjo O’Neill. The yard are in terrific form although they will be disappointed they didn’t have a winner at either of the spring Festivals, which is a surprise.
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