Thursday November 22nd

The lack of rain - and consequential quick ground - is really messing up fixtures at the moment - particularly during the mid week.

At Warwick today, the 2 feature chases managed a total of just 6 runners between them.
That’s not a good situation…

Things aren’t great at 2 of tomorrows meetings, either.

Both Wincanton and Thurles have the word ‘firm’ in their going description - and as a result, there are a number of small field, uncompetitive races.

Thankfully, a bit of the wet stuff seems to have fallen at Market Rasen - and their ‘good to soft’ ground has been rewarded by competitive races…

Market Rasen

12:55

Martila caught my eye on her most recent outing, staying on into fourth place behind Le Patriote, at Ayr.

She had won the corresponding contest, 12 months earlier - and was well backed to repeat.

However, she hadn’t run for nearly 4 months and I suspect that caught her out.

With the run under her belt, I would expect her to go close this afternoon - and Pauline Robson sends her a long way for the race.

A price of 4/1 is tight against 2 or 3 interesting rivals - but probably about right..

Selection: Martila at 4/1

1:25

The Pertemps qualifier is the high-light of the card - and I quite fancy Aaron Lad.

He was progressive last season, before disappointing on his final run at Haydock.

However, he shaped nicely on his return this season, when sixth in a competitive race at Cheltenham.

I would expect that run to have brought him on - in which case, he should go close tomorrow.

Interestingly, he is trained by Dr Newland, who has a decent strike rate at the Lincolnshire venue - and he is the only runner the good Doctor has at the meeting…

The general 7/1 this evening, strikes me as fair.

Selection: Aaron Lad at 7/1

2:00

This is a intriguing novice handicap chase - in which the runners have a real range of experience over fences…

At one end of the spectrum, First Drift is making his chasing debut under rules (though he has won a PTP): whilst at the other, Arctic Gold has already run 10 times over fences (without success !).

I like Drovers Hill best - but he is favourite and there is minimal margin in a price of 3/1.

Lisdoonvarna Lad is more interesting, at a price, for Charlie Longsdon.

He made his chasing debut at Warwick last month, in the race won by Kalashnikov.

Unsurprisingly, he never featured that day - but with that experience under his belt - and over an extra half mile, I would expect him to do much better tomorrow.

Selection: Lisdoonvarna Lad at 9/1

3:05

As a class 5 event, this is certainly not a race to be going mad with (as it could easily be the subject of a plot !) - however, with a straight bat, I quite like the look of Filemon…

He’s shown ability over fences - but has struggled with his jumping.
It’s therefore interesting that connections put him back over hurdles tomorrow…

The handicapper has dropped him a couple of pounds for his last run, which will help: and he also has the services of one the best jockeys in the race, in the shape of Page Fuller.

I’m a little unsure about the drop in trip, to 2 miles - but he’ll probably get a way with it.

There are very few in the race who you can fancy, based on what they’ve shown on the track - so at 4/1 he strikes me as a fair bet.

Selection: Filemon at 4/1