12:30 – Get Wishing 7/1 E/W (4 places)
I try and avoid Class 5’s where I can but I’m making an exception here.
Get Wishing’s form figures could hardly make less appeal but in between the two P’s, there was some encouragement on his other two runs this season. His chance debut wasn’t totally devoid of promise while he was running well on his penultimate start before falling at the second last.
Still, he never really convinced over fences and so switching back to hurdles seems a wise move. Furthermore, he’s been running on unsuitability soft ground for the best part of a year and a half while his best form has come on a sounder surface, which he gets today.
He’s hardly been prolific under rules, with just one win from twenty starts but that victory came over this course and distance, while the break is also a positive given his win came after an absence too. He’s also back on his last (and only) winning mark.
Victor Dartnall has been in good form of late, with his five runners in March recording form future of: 42101, while he has a 17% strike rate in handicap hurdles at Chepstow (A/E 1.26)
Ben Godfrey is booked for two rides for the trainer on the card; the duo have paired up four times, with the last 3 runners all finishing in the frame.
The horse can race lazily so the application of blinkers for the first time could prove a smart move. Indeed, Victor Dartnall has a 16% S/R with horses in first time blinkers (A/E 1.56).
All in all, there are plenty of reasons to expect a decent run here in what is a typically weak class 5 handicap.
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