3:05 – Dali Mail 5/1
A small field and so but there is certainly not a lack of pace. Victory Echo likes to front run, with his maiden success over fences coming as a result of a well judged ride but he had a very easy time of things up front.
That won’t be the case here; I’m to Blame also likes to front run while Reivers Lad also likes to be prominent. Touch Kick stays much further and sports first time cheekpieces while Ardera Cross also stays much further so won’t want to get too far back.
With that in mind, this may set up perfectly for Dali Mail, for whom a strongly run two miles looks ideal.
His first win over fences came when beating I’m To Blame, who he is now five pounds better off with despite the latter being in poor form.
While he didn’t progress as might’ve been expected, he was in the process of running a big race over C&D back in January 2020 when falling and there has been encouraging signs on his two starts this term.
First seen in a Graduation Chase, he was conceding weight to all bar one of his rivals, most of whom were rated higher, and he shaped as if needing the run. Stepped up to 2m4f at Aintree when last seen, he was patiently ridden which does not suit that track but he did well to make headway before tiring late on. That was a better race than this and it’s somewhat surprising that the handicapped dropped him 3lbs for that effort.
Donald Whillans does well at Ayr (A/E 1.1 all runners) while Dali Mail won a maiden hurdle here. The yard hasn’t had a winner since December but they’ve only had 15 runners since and they’ve had a few go very close at big prices recently.
He’s been off the track for nearly three months but if fully fit, he should have a great chance in a race of this nature considering he remains relatively unexposed.
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