3.00pm Southwell Tips & Betting Preview 20/12/2016

A field of 7 handicap stayers go to post for the penultimate race on the all weather at Southwell, see our betting tips and the full race preview below.

IN SUMMARY: Western Prince won on debut for this yard at Musselburgh and has strong claims after a break, but it may be worth taking a chance on SPIRITOFTOMINTOUL, who is now back down to his last winning mark and although his last two efforts haven’t been the best, he’s taken to brush those aside and make a bold bid today.

1 SPIRITOFTOMINTOUL – Back down to his last winning mark on the back of two poor efforts at Wolverhampton and Chester back in June, but there is hope that this drop back in trip will point him back in the right direction and he may well put up a bold bid to notch up a 3rd win. The Tony Carroll yard is in good form at present and so is jockey George Downing so he is more than worth taking a chance on today.

2 KATIE MCGALE – Well beaten at a big price on her first start on the flat since May at Kempton earlier this month (2m, Std and Slw). She does however love it here with four wins here including over C&D and has Each Way claims today if improving for that run.

3 SAFIRA MENINA – Always comes with a late rush and has been unlucky the last 3 times in 1m 4f handicaps, always running into some trouble. Going up in trip makes sense on the back of those efforts and he has place claims if everything drops right for him today.

4 SERENITY NOW – Hasn’t been seen since falling over hurdles at Haydock in March (1m7f, Good) but has a good record here and should be in the shakeup if he is ready to roll after this 269 day break.

5 GOLDSLINGER – Won four times in 2015 on the turf but has been nowhere near as good this year, failing to beat a rival in most of his starts. Will be better for his comeback run at Lingfield latest (1m4f, Standard) but he’s hard to fancy today.

6 PETRUCCI – Has been beaten out of sight in his last 4 runs for this new trainer at multiple trips. Despite showing some promise in earlier runs he’s very hard to fancy today and can’t be recommended.

7 WESTERN PRINCE – Won on stable debut for Michael Appleby at Musselburgh in good style (1m4f, Good) and goes up in trip today after a break. Neither of which should be an issue as that last win came after a break and he was staying on well over 2f shorter last time out, so he has to be considered a big danger today.