Free racing tips: Betting advice from leading tipster Rory Delargy

Recommended Bets: December 4

1pt win Rough Night in 1.15 Sandown at 6/1 (minimum 5/1 )

1pt win Espion in 3.00 Sandown at 13/2 (minimum 5/1)

1pt win Petite Power in 3.15 Exeter at 8/1 (minimum 13/2)

2pts win Emmpressive Lady in 3.35 Sandown at 7/2 (minimum 1pt @ 11/4)

For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record

• November was a fantastic month for our daily Punting Pointers column, with a profit of £45.74 recorded at recommended prices
• December hasn't started badly either with David Massey firing in 7/1 winner The Cob and 9/4 winner Johnny Drama from two selections on Wednesday

Hales And Hearty – 1.15 Sandown

Rough Night won on his second start last season after finishing well held on his return, and he’s worth backing to repeat that feat a year on in the Londesborough Handicap Chase. Alex Hales has his horses in fine fettle this autumn, and while this seven-year-old gelding was down the field behind The Big Bite at Aintree last month, he was in contention when making a bad mistake five out, and that put paid to any chance he had.

Rough Night can make mistakes, which is obviously a worry around this track, but often the big Sandown fences will get sloppy jumpers to pay a bit more attention, and he was a winner at Warwick last December, which like Sandown has a line of fences in quick succession in the back straight. He was also a very good second to Joke Dancer there on his next start, before failing to stay 2½m behind the top-notch Caribean Boy on his final outing of the 2019/20 season. The form of those races is working out well, and he appears to be fairly handicapped in relation to most of his rivals here.

Espyin’ a winner - 3.00 Sandown

Sandown stages an excellent meeting on Friday, but punters should be warned that steady rain until dusk on Tuesday has turned the going testing, notably on the hurdles track, which will be heavy on Friday.

Dream Berry finished second in this from 1lb lower last year (in heavy ground) and will strip fitter for a run at Newbury last month, but preference, especially now the yard has hit form, is Philip Hobbs’ Espion. The gelding has got some real size to him, and it’s always looked that 3m might be his trip in time. He’s done nothing to dispel that theory as yet, and has twice come up the Sandown hill with a bit of gusto, including when a good third over 2½m here last time out.

His pedigree points to him being a stayer as well, being by Coastal Path out of a half-sister to L’Ami, who stayed 3m7f well. Rain will aid Espion’s cause too, and he should arguably be favourite.

Dave’s Got The Power - 3.15 Exeter

Massey project alert. “I knew which one I wanted to be with here the moment it went past the post at Cheltenham three weeks ago, the horse in question rattling home for fourth after being tailed off with five to jump. In fact, I turned to the good lady, simply said, “Exeter”, at which point she looked at me like I was mad (she does that A LOT) but I knew what I was on about.” Says my partner in crime, and I’ve heard him bang on about Petite Power enough to know that I wouldn’t be able to resist his evangelical zeal.

Fair play to Fergal O’Brien for getting Petite Power perfectly handicapped for this, the 2lb drop he got for Cheltenham enabling him to get into the race he was a neck second in last year off the same mark, and in the same deep conditions as well.

Anyone who saw his Cheltenham effort over 3m1f could only conclude he requires a marathon distance these days, and this 3¾m is going to feel like further in the ground. He’ll still be going when others have had enough, and he definitely has the look of one laid out for this.

Dancing Shadow went off favourite for this last year off the back of a good effort the time before. He was only just denied in a competitive veterans chase at Chepstow on his reappearance this time, but his profile suggests he’s no good thing to follow one good run up with another, while supposed mudlark Dawson City is a C&D winner, but his very best efforts here have come on ground no worse than soft, and he ran badly trying to retain his Devon National crown in the mud last term.

Emmpressive By Name….3.35 Sandown

Neither of us tend to look long at mares’ handicaps as they have rarely proved happy betting mediums for us, but we both stopped on the same horse pretty quickly here. Emmpressive Lady built on her first solid form when winning in good style at Exeter last time, where she covered a lot of ground out wide, but travelled like much the best horse, and the further she went, the better she looked.

She looks the one on an upward trajectory now, and this extra quarter mile in the mud today may well bring out some more improvement in her. She’s unproven on heavy over hurdles, but her best bumper run, when second at Ffos Las, came in the deep stuff, and there are very few from the Gardner yard who don’t seem fully effective under such conditions.

Posted at 1800 GMT on 03/12/20

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