8.30pm Perth Tips & Betting Preview 01/08/2017

Just shy of £4,500 on offer to the winner of this two and a half mile handicap chase. Read on for our expert tip and runner by runner preview.

IN SUMMARY: CUIRASSIER DEMPIRE sets the standard on his recent runner up effort at Southwell in a better grade than this. He looks well up to winning from his current mark for a yard with an excellent record at Perth. He should improve straight past a field made up of generally exposed types. Roman Numeral looks the most likely runner up, he has run well the last twice on left handed tracks but all his best form in Ireland came going this way round. Cooper’s Friend is well handicapped on his old form and may fill out the places.

1 CUIRASSIER DEMPIRE – Very lightly raced, he is twice a winner in the pointing field, showing his best form under rules last time on his handicap debut. The margin he was beaten flatters him a little as the winner didn’t do much in front, but the winner was rated 120 there so this is a far easier contest. He is open to any amount of improvement, will relish conditions, with the step down in trip a positive for now as well. He is the one to beat for a yard with seven winners from their last nineteen runners at the track.

2 COOPER’S FRIEND – Not the easiest to win with but finds himself four pounds below his last winning mark for his previous yard. He has struggled since joining R Mike Smith, running his best race for the stable over this course and distance in May. Isn’t the easiest to be too confident about, but he will enjoy the decent ground conditions and is too well handicapped to ignore.

3 JACK THE HAT – First runner this side of the water for trainer Madeleine Tylicki. Well beaten at Wexford when last seen, that was his first run for the better part of two years so is easily excused. He has clearly had his problems, no win to his credit since October 2014 and is now twelve years of age. Is seven pounds below that last winning mark so will have his chance, but others should be too sharp.

4 DAVID JOHN – Made a successful start for the Tom Lacey yard over two miles last time out. He was a winner over this trip last September on his first run for Tony Carroll. He showed nothing in three subsequent outings for Carroll, so it has to be a concern that he failed to back up the initial impression there and may do so again.

5 GLEANN NA NDOCHAIS – Two of his four wins have come over this course and distance, but he hasn’t got his head in front since October 2015. He has dropped fifteen pounds since that triumph so is well treated if he is able to find his form, but he has generally looked regressive in the last twelve months and can only be watched.

6 QUICK BREW – Both career wins have come at Hexham, the last of which was from five pounds lower. He has been inconsistent since, showing promise for this test at Sedgefield two runs ago from a two pound higher mark. The ground will be fine for him, but he hasn’t run well on his two trips to this track in the past, so is passed over.

7 CLASSIC PALACE – Clocked up three wins in 2015, but she has run just twice since the November of that year, beaten out of sight on both occasions. She is potentially very well treated from 102 on both her point to point and hurdles form, but given the lack of recent action, she has more to prove than the majority of these.

8 ROMAN NUMERAL – A win last time was his first since April 2014. That was backing up a runner up effort over this trip, a return to form after a long time in the doldrums. Rated as high as 117 in the past, this mark of 86 should still be well within his compass if he can maintain his run of form. Both recent efforts were going the opposite way to this, but all his best form in Ireland came right handed, which makes him the most likely danger.

9 MY IDEA – Only 3/56 in his career, on a losing run currently that stretches back to March 2014. His very best efforts have come on a little softer ground than this and although he has the form in the book to give him an each way squeak, he is very hard to support with any confidence from a win perspective.