Sam King continued his good run of form yesterday with a 9/4 winner at Windsor and he returns with three more selections to help you through this Monday afternoon.
We head to Pontefract for our first wager and I'm happy to take a chance on the veteran Round The Island in the concluding Northern Commercials Service, Sales And Parts Handicap at 5.00.
I can see why Corinithia Knight has been well-supported this morning and it's easy to make a case for plenty of others towards the head of the market. However, there looks to be some value in the price of Round The Island at a general 20/1, especially with a number of bookmakers paying extra each-way places.
The Simon Whitaker horses are running well at present with an impressive 83% RTF percentage and Round The Island arrives on the back of a decent second-place finish at Ripon last month.
That was in Class 6 company, and he does step back up in standard here, but he's handicapped to win on pieces of his form from last year and the return to this venue looks like a major positive. The seven-time course and distance winner should get a nice spot from stall eight and he looks like a solid each-way bet racing off 1lb lower than when scoring here last September.
Selection: Round The Island – General 20/1
Musselburgh hosts a six-race evening card and our final two selections come from the Scottish venue.
It could be a good evening for punters at Musselburgh tonight with plenty of fancied market leaders and I can see why the majority have found themselves at the head of the betting.
Robert Johnson has barely put a foot wrong on the flat since moving to Phil Kirby's and he can record a fourth success for the yard in the Every Race Live On Racing Tv Handicap at 7.30.
The improving five-year-old looked as though he had plenty more in hand over the handicapper when comfortably landing a twelve-furlong Class 5 contest at Thirsk last month. That was a third success in his last four outings and although his sole defeat came when fourth over the two-mile trip (which he tackles again today) at Catterick in May, he looked unlucky not to finish closer that day after suffering trouble in running.
The booking of top apprentice Billy Loughnane negates 3lb of the 6lb rise. Given that he seems completely versatile regarding ground, there really are few negatives surrounding his chances and I can easily see him making it 5-10 on the flat with another victory this evening.
Selection: Robert Johnson – General 6/4
Our final wager comes in the 100% Racing TV Profits Back To Racing Handicap at 8.00 and Ecclesiastical should take all the beating.
The hat-trick-seeking six-year-old is now 9lb higher than when winning at Chester three days ago but he did things extremely easily on that occasion and I'd be surprised if he wasn't up to the task.
Tristan Davidson has his team in excellent form with an impressive 44% strike-rate (4-9) over the last 14 days and although this rise in the weights obviously makes life tougher, he won a Dundalk handicap off a mark of 79 for previous connections in 2021 and remains very well-treated off a mark of 54 under a 5lb penalty.
Selection: Ecclesiastical – General 13/8
