David Massey steers today's Punting Pointers through Tuesday's action and he has a couple of selections.
Racing betting tips: Tuesday April 7
1pt win Uppercase in the 14:57 Pontefract at 6/1 (Bet365, min 11/2)
1pt e.w Commander Of Life in the 19:00 Southwell at 9/2 (General, min 4/1)
14:57 Pontefract – Class 5 (0-75) Handicap 1m6y
I would expect that the ground at Pontefract on Tuesday will ride close to good, with temperatures set to hit 20C on a fine day in West Yorkshire. That might be an issue for paper favourite Kokanee here, as Ed Dunlop’s son of Kameko – against his pedigree, admittedly – has shown his best form with ease underfoot, scoring on softish ground on his return at Beverley last term and running his best subsequent races in the mud. He’s back on the mark he won off 12 months ago, and isn’t taken lightly, but preference is for UPPERCASE, who is unexposed at a mile, having run his best race when runner-up to Walsingham over C&D last summer on good ground.
Trained by Harry Eustace, Uppercase is expected to come to hand early, as his stable’s runners tend to, and he will take plenty of beating from a mark of 72. The horse who beat him here last term is now around a stone higher in the weights having gone on to land a hat-trick, and Uppercase can be forgiven a below-par run on his only subsequent start at Lingfield.
If there is a bigger danger than the market leader, it’s likely to come from Zowwal, who made a promising start for John & Sean Quinn a year ago but failed to go on. That might be the case again this season, but it’s equally likely that he didn’t really acclimatise having shown consistent form as a juvenile in France. He shaped better than for a while when beaten six lengths in the Spring Mile at Doncaster behind Mezcala last weekend and would have every chance if building on that effort.
19:00 Southwell
The rerouting of the Sky Sports Series Mile Handicap Final to Southwell from Chelmsford means there’s now a distinct lack of track form on offer, for all the surface is no different, which will ask a new question of a few of these. Whereas being on the pace is something that’s often a positive at Chelmsford, that’s not always the case at Southwell and it’s always possible for the hold-ups to get into this late if the pace holds up.
Tonal does have winning form here, for all it was off a mark 24lb lower than the one he races off today, but arguably of more interest now is COMMANDER OF LIFE, who isn’t the easiest to catch right but ten starts at Southwell have seen him hit the frame five times, and ran a cracker at Chelmsford last time, just unable to reel in winner Lexington Jet who made all the running whereas Commander Of Life was nowhere near as well positioned, held up off the pace as is his way. He comes here in great form, then, with a stack of track form to call upon, and looks like getting the strong pace he needs. He looks terrific each-way material.
14:00 Exeter
It’s probably a mention and no more for Noble Grace here, as she’s pulled up on both her handicap starts to date and seemingly with no excuse last time out either, despite only going off a 9-2 chance, but the straw to cling to today is good ground, which she had on her excellent bumper debut at Cheltenham last year, going down by a neck to Poetisa (has been running well for Willie Mullins this year) but hasn’t encountered again since, and her recent disappointments have all come on soft. The suspicion is she’s better than she’s shown so far over hurdles and she’ll make a mockery of a mark of 86 if she can bounce back to form, so maybe the quicker ground, and the addition of some cheekpieces today, will make the difference.
Preview posted at 09:15 BST on 07/04/26
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