Another Saturday, another maximum field
sprint handicap to mull over, this week the Ladbrokes Portland, run
over 5 furlongs and 140 yards on the flat, wide expanses of Town
Moor, Doncaster. Two favourites have won the Portland in the last ten
years, but the other eight winners in that period were priced at 20/1
(three times), 16/1, 14/1 (twice) and 11/1 (twice), so it’s a race
to which we look forward.
Right at the foot of the weights,
Indescribable (33/1) has finished stone cold last on his two
most recent starts, but has now run poorly on all six starts with cut
in the ground and, back on a sound surface, doesn’t look impossibly
handicapped. On his last start in a handicap on fast ground, he
stayed on well to finish eighth of twenty-seven, beaten 4 lengths, in
the Sprint Stakes, over 6 furlongs, at Goodwood and is 3lb lower in
the weights here. He’s done all his winning over 5 furlongs and has
the services of Silvestre De Sousa, who has a 24% strike rate for the
yard this season.
Gran Canaria Queen (25/1) is
another who’s done all her winning on good, or faster, going so,
having run respectably on soft ground, off a 1lb higher mark, at
Ripon four weeks ago, she’s another who could stage a revival back
on a sound surface. All her recent wins have come over 6 furlongs,
but she’s won and been placed over 5 furlongs in the past, so this
intermediate distance should suit her well enough.
Pipers Note (20/1) has already
won three times this season, improving 9lb in the process and, while
his recent efforts in handicaps suggest he might just be in the grip
of the handicapper, his form figures over 5 furlongs read 010115. In
any case, he’s still only 4lb higher in the weights than when
winning over 6 furlongs at Ripon in April, so with underfoot
conditions to suit it’s not difficult to imagine him being in the
shake-up.
Selections: Indescribable
(33/1), Grand Canaria Queen (25/1), Pipers Note (20/1)
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