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There is a cracker of a Jumps meeting happening at Worcester on Thursday and I have four selections for you to take a look at. But before we go any further, I just want to point out that I advise backing these as singles only. Should you fancy doing a small stake Lucky 15 as well to cover the multiples, then so be it - I guess it would be rather frustrating if we were to have the four winners as singles only if they were all to land.
There’s some pretty competitive racing coming up for the rest of this week and I’ll be bringing you some Irish selections from the Kilbeggan and Killarney meetings on Friday, followed by action from the Jumps meetings at Cartmel and Market Rasen on Saturday.
For Thursday, I have a superb offer for you from Bet Victor. If you bet just £5 you can get £30 in free bets in return. The ideal way to get yourselves set up for the weekend action.
My first selection for Thursday comes in the opener, where we have an eight-runner Handicap Chase and I see plenty in with chances here. Benefit Run is an interesting one for the Ross O’Sullivan team, he is a pretty nice traveller and he’s going to get it right sooner or later, but he has been a little bit unreliable in the jumping department.
Elios D’or is another who has plenty of ability, but often hits a few too many fences, which inevitably dents his chance of winning. Lucky Boy Lover is also very interesting off bottom weight and should strip fitter for his latest run over course and distance.
However, I think the one to be with here is top weight Captain Ivan, who is improving run by run and is a solid jumper to go with it. I think he will prove tough to beat and is evidently very consistent at the moment. Even though he carries a penalty here, I think he is the standout selection.
Another decent race at Worcester is the Mares’ Chase and this again is a tight contest on paper. Cotton End has plenty of ability, but she always seems to do something wrong and is more often than not her own worst enemy. If she was to get it all together, she would be very nicely Handicapped here, but there are too many risks attached for my liking.
Dicey Riley will give this another really good go off top weight, but I’m not entirely sure that she has much more improvement in her. The Greatrex team runs the very unexposed Callin Baton Rouge here. We know she has improvement in her and I think she is the main danger off her current mark.
However, my pick here is Princess Midnight. She is the only runner at Worcester for the Joe Tizzard yard and she is a very honest type who always seems to run her race. She is also a course and distance winner, who comes here following on from a decent second to Open Bid at Newton Abbott last month. She has less questions to answer than most and a repeat of her last performance should see her there or thereabouts.
A few interesting runners in this Handicap Hurdle too. Rock The House has been in form for the Katy Price team, but I think he has a bit too much on his plate this time round. One that could outrun his odds is Esperti, who runs for David Rees. Sean Bowen may well be able to get a decent tune out of this lad, who has some good Irish behind him.
Charlie My Boy beat one of my previous selections last time out and can be expected to improve again off a lot weight, but I’m going to take a chance on the JP McManus owned Locks Corner. This one has been tricky to win with, but he is more than capable of winning a race of this nature and there was a lot to like about his run at Market Rasen last time out.
We’ve seen him go well before and it really is just a case of timing it right with this lad, as he is not exactly consistent. I prefer to see him over Hurdles, as he has let himself down with his jumping over fences previously. Truth be told, we will probably know our fate early on with this one, but I’m going to give him this one chance after an encouraging return to form last time out.
From my viewpoint, this Handicap Hurdle looks like it will end up as a straight contest between the three top weights. Zamond has shown plenty of ability and has likely come on for his last run, but he has plenty of quirks and there are a few too many question marks about his running style to take him on here.
One really interesting runner is Graffiti, who is coming back to Hurdles after having five runs on the Flat, where his best win was over the mile. So, he certainly has the speed for this if he travels and jumps well enough and that is not an unrealistic expectation. In his four starts over Hurdles, he has won once and placed in the other three, so there’s definitely an unexposed mark to take advantage of there.
However, I think the honesty and toughness of Zucayan will be hard to overcome here. He won pretty comfortably last time out, in a race with some nicely-profiled horses and did it in a good and professional fashion. This will bode well for him here, despite Graffiti being unexposed factor and having a 10lb claimer on board. To me, Zucayan looks ahead of his mark after winning in a very strong field last time out and I think he will be hard to beat.
Before you go, don’t forget to check out all of the fantastic bookmaker offers we have right here at Betting.co.uk.
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