After an incredible run of action over the festive period, Thursday is somewhat of a breather. We’ll have more fantastic action on New Year’s Day, but Thursday’s racing comes from Taunton, Haydock and Wolverhampton. There’s no ITV and Grade 1 action, but it’s still a competitive day of racing.
Course form is always crucial, with certain horses only performing at specific tracks. Sometimes that can be due to the characteristics of the venue and that’s no different with All-Weather tracks. These two horses have won five races combined at Wolverhampton and the each-way double could pay 450-1. Find all our analysis below!
Koeman has run just once on the Tapeta at Wolverhampton and it resulted in a course and distance victory in December 2020. He’s currently 16 pounds below that winning rating after a torrid campaign, but a return to this venue could be just the answer for a horse who is perhaps stuck in a rut.
His most recent victory came at Hamilton in September, landing a Class 4 handicap off a mark of 78. He competes off 79 today, so he’s clearly on a good rating, and he’s been drawn well to attack in stall one. He drops in grade from his most recent start at Kempton and with George Bass claiming five pounds, he’s a strong each-way candidate.
A three-time course winner, it’s fair to say that Deconso enjoys his visits to Wolverhampton. He was a winner at Carlisle back in August off a basement mark of 45, with three subsequent runs producing modest results. Beaten a combined 59 lengths, he really needs to bounce back, but a return to Wolverhampton should help.
He’s fallen back onto a basement rating and given the grade he competes in, being three pounds out of the weights isn’t a concern. Josephine Gordon’s style could help get the best out of him and he’s got a better draw than several of the protagonists. If he can get handy from stall four, we could see a much improved display today.
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