Best From The West - January 23

Good competitive racing all round at Ascot on Saturday with the backend of the card creating plenty of intrigue.

The Daniel Morton trained Dendee returned to the winner's stall at Pinjarra last start and presents good value at her opening quote in the sixth event.

A winner of four of her last five starts, her only blemish came behind Ideal Image in the Group 3 La Trice Classic when safely held over 1800m.

While beaten a considerable margin on that occasion her ratings profile didn't waiver all that much and she quickly returned to winning form at her latest effort.

Ridden cold from the wide draw she was forced to make a long sustained run and really impressed when forging to the lead in the shadows of the post.

Successful in recording a new career peak, she now drops back to 1200m off a short break (10 days) but gets the blinkers back on to compensate and is rock hard hit fit.

The Jim Taylor trained Travellin' will no doubt be hard to beat, however there is simply too much between them in current markets.

Installed a 9-1 chance, Dendee appears well over the odds.

She is clearly progressive and while there are some question marks about her preparation, she is more than capable and happy to stick with her at her current quote.

The last event also presents quite the punting conundrum with a number of promising types set to clash over the 1100m journey.

Big watch on North Ridge as while clearly better over further, he is quite the talent and is definitely one to blackbook for this upcoming preparation.

The Gary Crispin trained Volkoff possesses a distinct fitness edge on a majority of her main rivals and notably gets the pace angle to suit.

An impressive winner first up, the daughter of Time Thief proceeded to take that next step when saluting narrowly at this C&D last start.

A winner of four of five attempts at Ascot she is unbeaten over this trip and rates highly using Timeform weight adjusted ratings.

As much as 4-1 is being offered about her chances which is great value given we have her marked the 5-2 favourite.

Drawn to get the gun run she should prove hard to hold out.

As a side note, TopBetta will offer a minimum of $5,000 for the Saturday Metros Big One Tournament and while Ascot won't play a part it is definitely worth checking out - Click Here .

BET OF THE DAY (1): Race 6 #8 Dendee @ $10.00

BET OF THE DAY (2): Race 8 #14 Volkoff @ $5.00