The Monday after the Cheltenham Festival is a nice quiet day for racing and our free horse racing tips, right? Wrong! There is an almighty gamble happening on runners trained by D J Jeffreys across Southwell, Kelso and Plumpton this afternoon. This Curleyesque punt is going to be a huge story today, but can they land the gamble? Let’s investigate.
A two mile handicap chase to kick off the gamble, featuring a horse who has never run over a trip shy of 2m3f. Dropped to this trip for the first time at the age of ten looks a slightly odd move but the money has absolutely poured in for a horse who is a full stone below his last winning mark.
Owned by George Houghton who also owns Not Now Seamus in the first leg, he was only beaten a neck in a novice hurdle back in September 2020. That was the last time that he wore cheekpieces which are refitted today. A repeat of that from a mark of 102 would make the money understandable.
Twice a winner in the pointing field so clearly has some ability. He has not shown that on three hurdles runs for a mark but is certainly entitled to build on that now that he goes handicapping for the first time. He got an RPR of 85 for the second of those point wins so an opening mark of 84 could be within his capabilities.
To really thrown a curveball into the mix, Jeffreys also has The Gold Bug in this race who has been backed into 9/2 from 8/1
Another handicap debutante and one who is running from a massive twenty-two pounds out the handicap. He is fitted with a tongue strap here for the first time which connections clearly think is going to bring about a huge chunk of progression. It will need to but the money has spoken.