King’s Head goes to Wincanton tonight to try to open his account over hurdles. We took him back to the flat last time, but there were technical reasons for doing that – if he had won a hurdle before May 1 (the beginning of the new jumps year) he would have lost his novice status, and that lasts for the whole year. He’s fit and in good shape. If the rain gets into the ground it will damage his chances – if not he’ll be a good bet.
The first and fourth in Shawhill’s last race at Windsor come out today, and I’ll be backing them both. Crimson Monarch goes at Nottingham in the 3:00. He had no luck in running and would have finished a lot closer last time. The stable is in form and Jimmy Fortune is an excellent pilot. The extra distance is a concern as breeding suggests it would be a stretch, but at least he should be fully fit after a couple of competitive runs. Highland Legacy goes at Hamilton in the 7:20. He’s up 6lb for the Windsor run, but goes up another 3lb afterwards. He has a decent claimer on board. The Windsor run was the best time of the day, unlike Sonara’s at Pontefract which was the worst.
I like Maysarah in the 7:50 at Hamilton, although the suggested price in the RP (6/4) is disappointing. Gerard Butler’s stable is clearly firing but he’s getting a lot more seconds than winners – I just put that down to bad luck.
I’ll be having a very small bet on Litalia in the Ormonde as I’m slightly intrigued. I haven’t asked Pete about her but it seems possible that she could have improved a lot for the move to his stable.