Recommended bets: Kempton
1pt win Pulsating in 7.00 at 2/1
1pt win Mr Bossy Boots in 8.00 at 7/2
7.00 Matchbook VIP Fillies’ Handicap
A wide-open handicap for fillies being run over six furlongs and Paddy Butler's Mercers is aiming to land a hat-trick of polytrack victories with the most recent of those coming over course and distance midway through January.
However, this is much tougher than both those wins and she has a further 4lb to cope with so will need to find more improvement.
Very Honest won at Goodwood on the turf off a mark of 80 in the summer of 2016 and is running off 71 here and she ended last year with some solid efforts in better company on the all-weather so could provide some resistance.
The selection, though, comes from the in-form stable of Archie Watson and it's his PULSATING who can go one better than when second over track and trip last Saturday.
The four-year-old seldom runs a bad race and although I stated last week that potentially the handicapper had caught up with her, the way she ran suggested that she's still got another win in her and gets to run off the same mark today.
Reedanjas supplied different front-running tactics two weeks ago when scoring at Chelmsford but she was handed an uncontested lead that day and was able to dictate the race but there looks like there's a couple of others who like to go from the front which won't suit and her only previous visit here was when last of eight so it's Watson's filly who makes the most appeal as she's a multiple winner over this distance with a course win to her name and this yard boasts a 35% strike-rate over the past month.
8.00 Matchbook Betting Podcast Handicap
The feature race on this evening's card comes in the form of a seven furlong handicap with only the seven runners heading to post.
At first look I was finding it tough to completely rule any of them out, but having dusted the surface down I've managed to find negatives in a few.
Fiftyshadesofgrey goes well on this surface and should come on for his comeback run when four lengths off the winner but it's a worry that he hasn't won since 2015 and has become expensive to follow.
Bobby Wheeler finished ahead of George Baker's horse that day when fourth but his form prior to that run has been very patchy and there's no reason to believe that he'll be capable of kicking on.
Helfire has been consistent in her last six runs and arrives here after a 153-day break but has struggled on first run back twice already so may need this so the suggestion is MR BOSSY BOOTS.
This seven-year old ticks a lot of boxes in regard to the distance (six time winner), the class (three wins from seven) and surface (four wins).
He has been eased a pound for a couple of recent placed efforts and is currently lurking on a dangerous mark having previously won off both 88 and 91 on the all-weather so he should be more than capable of hitting the frame off a mark of 84, especially having been handed a low draw and a first-time visor could provide the improvement necessary to land this.
Posted at 2300 GMT on 31/01/18.
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