12:30 – Lord Baddesley 9/2
Following Es Perfecto’s win yesterday, the Kempton bumper in which LB was 5th, is starting to look like pretty strong form.
Like Es Perfecto, LB was held up in what was a steadily run affair, but he made nice headway when forced 4-wide round the bend. He initially looked tapped for a bit of pace, but he did begin to pickup but had his route continuously blocked off as he eventually finished 5th. If he were not forced wide and if he managed to get a gap, he probably would’ve been closer for all that he wouldn’t have won.
This run came after a hugely encouraging debut effort at Worcester, where he finished 2nd at 40/1. Held up in last, he made eye catching headway on the outside late on and traded at 1.1 in running without ever hitting the front.
There were many decent horses in behind him that day, including: Midnight River (3rd, went on to place behind Ask A Honey Bee and looks a nice prospect), Cadmar (4th, more fancied of the Gordon duo and won his next start), Israel Champ (6th, dual listed bumper winner), Papa Tango Charly (7th, 128 rated over hurdles and surely capable of better) and Benson (8th, won his next start in a bumper and shaped encouragingly over hurdles)
By Doyen out of a half sister to grade 2 winning juvenile hurdler, Tropical Lake, he’s a half brother to Tropical Three (bumper winner and 2m hurdle winner) and is closely related to Robins Reef (bumper winner and 2m hurdle winner + finished 4th behind Limini in the mares’ novices’ hurdle)
As such, his pedigree suggests that he’ll make a nice hurdler and while he looked like he’d appreciate going up in trip when sent hurdling, there’s some speed in his pedigree which hopefully means he’ll cope with 2m1.5f around Fontwell.
He was pulled out of a race at Newbury on account of the heavy ground, and he wouldn’t want too much rain here but I don’t think a bit of give will inconvenience him as much as it would some of the others in this line up.
Chris Gordon has only had 10 runners since July 1st (1 place) and most were beaten quite far, but he runs 8 at Fontwell today with plenty more on Saturday so this meeting looks to have been the early season target for many. As such, it’s hoped that LB is ready to do himself justice.
I was praying the early 6/1 with Bet365 would last as that would’ve been a cracking EW price. However, 9/2 is fair enough and I expect him to go close.
overandclear.com 