Resident tipster Rory Delargy is back with two selections for Monday, with an in-form stable fancied to continue winning ways.
Extra Place value on Hume Lough
Hume Lough doesn’t jump off the page in the starsports.bet Watch And Bet For Free Handicap Chase at Hereford (3.20), but this is a race where the top of the market looks shaky, and both of us looked at this contest independently, and he’s the one we both settled on. Placed in a point before joining Sarah-Jayne Davies, Hume Lough has shown just poor form on the whole over fences, but he was going fairly well when tipping up here on his penultimate start, leading me to think he could win a small race, and he did nothing to dispel that notion when fourth from out of the weights on his reappearance at Ffos Las. He handles soft ground, unlike a few of these, and is arriving on the back of arguably his best run over jumps, so should go close from what is a 5lb lower mark.
To indicate how weak the race is, the front two in the betting have run a total of 38 times under Rules between them, with the reward of on win for Wisecracker, while Beet Topper has more letters than numbers in his form, and has achieved absolutely nothing since finishing fourth in a novice hurdle at Plumpton almost two years ago. The selection is still looking for his first win, but appears to have as good a chance as any on recent form, and has been put in at 22/1, which is very appealing with an extra place on offer.
On The Bandwagon
Since the end of July, Anthony Honeyball has run nine horses in handicaps after an absence, and a remarkable six of those have won, including all three at Ascot on Saturday, and it’s something of a surprise that Nocturnal Myth is not favourite in the attheraces.com/breederscup Handicap Hurdle (3.40), with the fact he’s been off since a promising handicap debut in May last year arguably a positive given the yard’s excellent recent form.
Nocturnal Myth showed ability in bumpers, and improving on his previous form over hurdles when 11¼ lengths fifth of 12 to Witness in a conditional riders’ event at Hexham, where he travelled best until the home turn, but failed to get home over three miles on that stiff track. He’s since had wind surgery, and his handler has given him plenty of time, so he can be expected to be ready for this return, and the handicapper has been extremely generous in dropping him 6lb for that defeat. In addition, the drop in trip by half a mile looks a positive move, and it’s hard to see him not starting favourite at the off, and he rates a confident bet at current odds of 7/2. I think 7/4 would be much closer to the mark.
Preview posted 1805 GMT on 01/11/2020
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