Best From The West - October 31

Talented filly Blackwood tasted her first defeat in the Belgravia Stakes, but gets the weight swing to turn the tables at Ascot on Saturday.

Set to line up in the Listed Burgess Queen Stakes, Blackwood is expected to take good improvement racing second up and rates highly using Timeform weight adjusted ratings.

An eye catcher first up behind the Grant Williams trained Perfect Reflection, Blackwood hit the line hard to finish third and will no doubt appreciate the step up in trip.

During her maiden preparation, Blackwood notched up four successive wins and continued to improve, exploding when getting up to the mile.

She is unbeaten in both prior attempts over 1400m and now meets Perfect Reflection 2kg better off at the weights.

The distinct lack of speed is a concern, however hoping Blackwood can adopt a more forward position.

Currently installed the 3-1 second favourite makes her a more than worthy gamble as while Perfect Reflection is also progressive, we have little/nothing between them in our market.

When priced solely using weight adjusted ratings we have the two marked equal favourites and hence Blackwood is clearly the better option at her current quote.

In what should be a cracking renewal of the Burgess Queen Stakes, do expect Blackwood to come out on top.

The Simon Miller trained Key To Fame was unable to bring up the hat-trick last start, but can atone in the final event on Saturday.

An impressive winner at both starts to begin this preparation, the son of Al Maher was only narrowly beaten last start, when second behind London Line.

In doing so he confirmed the figure from his dominant display two back and should be right at his peak racing fourth up.

While drawn out, he possesses enough tactical speed to press forward and cut across.

If able to do so, he presents very strong winning claims and at his current quote the wide barrier looks to be overplayed by the market.

As much as 3-1 is being bet about his chances which appears more than fair given we have marked a 6/4 chance on the bare form.

Being only a 3YO he possesses plenty of upside where as a number of his rivals have already reached their respective marks.

Yes it will be a gamble as to where he gets to from the draw, but that's a gamble we are willing to take.

BET OF THE DAY (1): Race 5 #3 Blackwood @ $4.00

BET OF THE DAY (2): Race 8 #11 Key To Fame @ $4.00