Sam King may have failed to find the board yesterday but he’s back with three selections on this wonderful Wednesday including a strong fancy at Kempton tonight…
Haydock hosts a seven-race afternoon card featuring some interesting novice action and I'm expecting the William Haggas-trained Truthful to follow up in the Jewson Wigan EBF Fillies' Novice Stakes at 2.40.
William Haggas' filly looked to be learning plenty on the job when winning narrowly over 1m2f at Salisbury on debut last month. The runner-up that day had already shown a useful level of form and had the benefit of experience, so it looked like a decent effort to get up late in the closing stages.
The step up to twelve furlongs looks a huge plus for this scopey daughter of Sea The Stars and this more conventional galloping track should play to her strengths.
I expect her to take a sizeable step forward from that initial effort and she can make it a perfect two-from-two before moving up in grade.
Selection: Truthful – General 6/4
Our second wager also comes from Haydock and I'm hopeful that Chorus Line can continue her stable's excellent run of form in the Jewson Widnes Fillies' Handicap at 4.50.
The Ed Dunlop team can do no wrong at present with a remarkable 30% (9-30) strike-rate over the last fortnight.
Three of their last four runners have found the winners' enclosure and this filly looks just the type of horse to progress through the handicaps now going up in trip.
She needed every inch of the seven-furlong trip when making a winning handicap bow on quick ground at Leicester 15 days ago, but William Buick always looked confident in getting there and I love the fact the Norwegian-born champion chasing jockey is booked once more.
The step up to a mile looks sure to suit this daughter of Territories based on pedigree and how strongly she came home when winning at Leicester last time. She's a half-sister to a trio of smart middle-distance performers and should continue to progress with time and age.
A 3lb rise looks fair for winning last-time-out and although this represents a stiffer task, I expect her to prove equal to it and follow up on that recent success.
Selection: Chorus Line – General 7/2
Heads turn to the all-weather for our third and final selection with Kempton playing host to an interesting eight-race card.
The More Price Boosts Races At Unibet Handicap at 7.10 looks like a competitive heat on paper but Tawalla catches my eye and he looks worth a decent bet at the current prices.
The unexposed son of Invincible Spirit finished runner-up to a now 93-rated rival at Catterick on his second outing and still looked very green out in front when landing a six-furlong maiden at Ripon last-time-out.
Charlie Fellowes has made it no secret that this horse has Royal Ascot aspirations next week but an opening mark of 81 certainly won't be getting him into any races at the Royal meeting. He'd have to win impressively tonight on his handicap bow to even have a chance of making Ascot and its interesting connections are still pondering the idea.
Stall 11 may not look ideal, but I'd expect Jamie Spencer to have him switched off in the early stages and with plenty of pace looking likely upfront I'm anticipating the Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned colt to come with a withering late run to pick up the pieces.
Selection: Tawalla – General 6/1
