A chance to boost the bank before the Festival

There are 3 meetings today at Ayr, Sandown and Leicester. The ground at Sandown, which is staging its military riders day, is soft. I quite enjoy the support that Sandown gives the amateur military riders, even tho' it is far too risky a betting medium to get heavily involved in.

There are other races on the card worth looking at tho', and the 2-mile Class 3 handicap chase at 2:30 looks interesting. The race-fav Greywell Boy won this race last year on soft ground when rated OR118 and is only 4lbs higher today despite running well in the meantime including 14-days ago over a trip of 2m5f. The return to 2-mile will suit him and he must go close. Wings Of Smoke has never shown his best form on soft ground, and Bullet Street needs to find a lot of improvement on his run LTO, the form of which has not worked out well. The best recent run from Coolbeg was when he was 3rd in this race last year behind Greywell Boy. As such, he meets the race-fav on 10lb better terms for that 1¼-length defeat. However, he's shown nothing like that sort of form since and connections are running in hope that he does. Sands Cove was in the process of running a great race when falling 2-out at Exeter in November but, in 3 runs since, he's not looked like the same horse. Finally, Train Of Thought fell on his only chase start since being recruited from the point-to-point field, and this £200,000 yearling (who was one of the last horses sired by the great stallion Sadler's Wells in 2008) needs a bolt from the blue to win.

GREYWELL BOY is only 6/4 for this, but he may well start shorter.

The meetings at Leicester and Ayr do not have any opportunities for a wager as, with Greywell Boy being at odds under 9/4, I was looking for another short-odds runner that I could combine to make a win double, but there is nothing suitable.

I'm in London tomorrow so if I post a blog tomorrow, it will be one that I've written this afternoon. For the rest of today, in the spare time I have, I'll be updating the drafts for next week, and putting together a handicap supplement for those who have donated for the Cheltenham Festival Bulletin.

It's not too late to donate for the bulletin, in fact last year nearly 20% of my donations came in during the final 5-days before the Festival started. So, if you want a copy of the bulletin together with all the supplements, just make a donation of at least £10.

All the best for the weekend,
from Wayward Lad