David Massey has today's Punting Pointers and he has a relatively strong fancy at Uttoxeter.
Racing betting tips: Wednesday July 15
1.5pts win Samuel Spade in 15:18 Uttoxeter at 5/2 (General) - min 2/1
3:18 Uttoxeter - Class 3 (0-135) Novice’ Limited Handicap Chase 3m
Sunray Shadow is the one with the solid recent form figures and for all most of that has been over hurdles, there was a ready chase win in the middle of it all at Worcester last month. He is likely to head the market, but I’d be happy to give SAMUEL SPADE another chance after a very respectable fifth in the competitive Summer Cup here last month, one that could have been even better but for losing his pitch after being badly hampered at the first fence and making a bad mistake at the third.
After that, he jumped better, and made a big move out wide on the final turn to get into contention, but unsurprisingly he couldn’t carry that effort through late and he faded out of it between the last two fences.
That was a better effort than it looked given the circumstances and he again has conditions to suit (took his lifetime record on good or quicker ground, away from Cheltenham - to 1123141 when winning at Worcester on his penultimate start) and that makes him of obvious interest., while the smaller field will put less pressure on his jumping.
4:48 Uttoxeter - Class 5 (0-100) Handicap Hurdle 2m7f7y
Grey Gamble wasn’t going anywhere quickly over hurdles (after a couple of reasonable bumper efforts) but a step up in trip produced a better effort at Market Rasen last time, staying on in good fashion once the race was all over for a 9¼ length fourth to Kiwi De Cotte, and starting to look like she was getting the hang of things.
She’s bred to stay well, with half-brothers Ballyegan and Baily’s Rock both successful over similar trips, and whilst an opening mark of 94 isn’t a gift by any means, she should find improvement at some point. This might just be a shade too tough, but we're keen on her as a project, especially when going up in trip again.
5:05 Bath - Class 6 (0-60) Handicap 1m
Blue Hero has a couple of interesting stats attached to him which make him look like a bet, the first of which is that he has now won ten times from 33 starts at Bath, improving to four from 11 on ground described officially as firm, and three from 7 on good or quicker over this track and trip. The other stat is an unusual one, in that he wore a hood on his first 53 starts for Adrian Wintle, but bounced back to winning ways with the headgear left off last time.
There is a theory that wearing a hood for too long can make horses less competitive in a finish, and that wasn’t the case when the hoodless Blue Hero beat Knightmare by half a length over C&D a fortnight ago and the runner-up was narrowly beaten in similar company last time by Nutcracker, who in turn was only just touched off at Lingfield on Monday.
He remains very fairly treated from a mark of 51 and although he stays further, his strike-rate over C&D on good or faster ground is excellent and he should make another bold bid.
Whilst we are keen enough on his chances today, the morning price is short enough and we do expect him to drift nearer the off. At 9/2 and bigger we'd be having a bet.
Preview posted 09:32 BST on 15/07/26
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