Star three-year-old Ihtsahymn makes his return at Ascot on Saturday and while lumped with the big weight he simply appears too classy for his rivals.
Given a short let up following his impressive victories in both the Group 1 Kingston Town Stakes and the Group 2 C.B. Cox Stakes the son of Ihitram showed dramatic improvement last time in and stamped himself as one of the stars of the West.
Set to return over the mile appears to play right into his hands and on best form he rates well clear of his rivals and can run close to 10 pounds below his best and still prove victorious.
Currently installed a $2.30 chance appears a luxurious gamble as we have Ihtsahymn rated a $1.60 chance and presents a great overlay.
Likely to be geared towards the Derby in April he is still expected to be forward enough for this on Saturday as he does have residual fitness on his side and simply should prove too classy for his rivals.
The Jim Taylor trained Thateldo chases the hat-trick on Saturday and again appears lobbed in at the weights on his latest victory.
Without even accounting for the aid of the Ellie Cockram's three kilogram he still rates two pounds clear and while Fiddler's Elbow is progressive he too possesses the similar amount of scope for improvement.
Shopping around a 5-2 chance in early markets seems a more than fair gamble as we have rated closer to a 6-4 chance and will happy play him up at the price.
From the awkward draw he should roll forward and settle right up on the speed and prove very hard to get past in the straight.
The Bruce Watkins & the Gary Hitchcook trained Low Flying has come up $2.80 in the opening event but we struggle to even get her favourite on the weekend.
On our ratings the shortest we can get her in the event is $4.90 and hence we do see Ziva Star and Romany Bel as great overlay opportunities.
While a solid victor last start her racing pattern of settling towards the tail of the speed is clearly low percentage and happy to be taking her on.
BEST FROM THE WEST:
BANKER: Race 6 #1 Ihtsahymn @ $2.30
PLAY OF THE DAY: Race 5 #5 Thateldo @ $3.50
LAY OF THE DAY: Race 1 #4 Low Flying @ $2.80
