Antepost Value Bet tips: Friday May 6
2pts win Solent Gateway in tote+ Chester Cup at 10/1 (Sky Bet) - General 8/1 also fine
Hugo Palmer made the best possible start to life at the helm of Manor House Stables when Noman won at Leicester on April 1 and while it took another 22 days to taste further success from the new base, there must be a very good chance the trainer has been working back with Chester’s big May meeting at the forefront of his mind for some time.
Perhaps more significantly, the second winner for the now Cheshire-based handler came courtesy of experienced stayer Rajinsky in Saturday’s two-mile event at Ripon, a race that invariably throws up Chester Cup hopefuls and has produced the winner a couple of times in the last decade (Making Miracles in 2019 and Trip To Paris in 2015), plus the 2014 runner-up, Angel Gabrial.
Rajinsky was already guaranteed a run in the tote+ Chester Cup so could probably have done without the 3lb penalty for winning at Ripon on the face of it, but Palmer will undoubtedly be hoping SOLENT GATEWAY also gets into the main event on May 6.
He’s number 25 at the time of writing and only 17 can make the field so could end up in the consolation race, but it’s not too difficult to envisage the Cup cutting up at the confirmation stage next Saturday, with Dermot Weld having a couple in there currently along with Ian Williams' four and a handful for Mark and Charlie Johnston.
Solent Gateway, a son of Awtaad and half-brother to mile winner Jumira Prince among others, isn’t necessarily bred for extended distances but having looked held by the handicapper as a 10-furlong performer last summer, he improved a good chunk for the step up to a mile and a half, and then two miles, in August.
Both of those efforts came around this course and there was loads to like about the way he cruised from rear to turn away a bunch of hardened old stayers on the second occasion (replay below).
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Jockey Jane Elliott barely moved a muscle on the horse in the closing stages and the subsequent flop at Newbury towards the end of October can surely be put down to the bottomless ground.
The return to a sound surface saw the four-year-old post a highly encouraging comeback run when staying on to be beaten just half a length behind Going Gone in the Great Metropolitan at Epsom recently, and it’s quite exciting to see what he can do back up in trip for Palmer this season, especially around the relatively speed-favouring tracks.
A mark of 90 (unchanged from Epsom, just 6lb higher than the ready track success) certainly doesn’t look beyond him and although the layers reacted immediately after the comeback run (14s from 20s), I want him onside at current odds before the second inevitable scramble when it appears he will be making the line-up.
Sky Bet are holding firm at 10/1 which looks good business at this stage but I'd have no qualms over taking 8/1 either.
Published at 1600 BST on 24/04/22
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