Old Firm To Strike Again At Headquarters

Horse Racing
Old Firm To Strike Again At Headquarters

Recent Winner To Get His Way Again With Conditions To Suit

One of the best jockeys ‘from the front’ is Joe Fanning but he will almost certainly hold up Monday’s Windsor winner SEDUCTIVE MOMENT before attempting to swoop in the last furlong in the Heath Court Hotel bestwestern.co.

uk Handicap this afternoon.

The horse had been off the course for nearly six months prior to last week’s race but it didn’t bother him when beating Data Protection and four others by two lengths plus, and he was, if anything, pulling away at the line.

The gelding could ‘bounce’ – running poorly when returning quickly after a break- but Johnston’s pedigree suggests that to be unlikely.

The Middleham trainer is 16% at the course with many of those having been very competitive affairs and has had 24 winners from 109 runners in the last fortnight, a very significant 22%.

He and Fanning get one in six winners together at Newmarket and the 6lbs penalty doesn’t look enough to stop the son of Shamardal from getting a double.

Ian Williams’ PINNATA looks next best but a dozen of his last 14 runs have been at a variety of all-weather tracks, where, shrewdly placed, he ran up a hat-trick last winter.

He has achieved a rating of 95 on the artificial surfaces so his 77 here makes him look thrown-in, but he last ran on the turf over seven furlongs here in November and was beaten 10 lengths off a mark of 73.

The ground was soft that day, though and the last time he encountered good to firm was at Chepstow two years ago when he won comfortably.

CRIMEWAVE sports blinkers for the first time and is being backed but the cheekpieces he has worn twice didn’t bring that much improvement and he looks a couple of pounds too high.

At 6/4 Seductive Moment looks the one.

G Lees

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