12:10 Lingfield

Thursday 28 November 2019

All12:1012:4513:2013:5514:2515:0015:30

Betway Handicap

Off time: 12:11 | Winning time: 1m 10.55s

(3)

Laith Alareen^t⁴³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: D C Costello| T: I Furtado| OR: 80

50/1

Won four on the bounce on turf (all 5f) in 2018 but comfortably held on all three starts this year, including on the Fibresand at Southwell (5f).

Form: 111-580

(4)

Sonja Henie⁵⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 9-6| J: Jonathan Fisher⁽⁷⁾| T: D Loughnane| OR: 79| D

8/1

5lb higher than for the second of her August wins (Epsom, 6f good); has won on Polytrack and Tapeta previously (2-8 AW); Jonathan Fisher's 7lb claim is considered helpful.

Form: 121076

(12)

Mohareb²⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 9-6| J: Alistair Rawlinson| T: M Appleby| OR: 79| D

9/2

Ex Saeed Bin Suroor; struck on his second start for this trainer when beating the recent Newcastle scorer Rhossili Down in a 6f novice at Chelmsford; merits respect on handicap debut.

Form: 0421

(10)

Chitra³⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: R Kingscote| T: D & C Kubler| OR: 78| D

20/1

Bar a blip on her most recent outing, she's been broadly consistent since back-to-back turf wins in the spring (5f-6f); the suspicion is that others may prove better handicapped.

Form: 572330

(6)

Spirited Guest²¹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-4| J: T P Queally| T: G G Margarson| OR: 77

9/4

Progressive since returning to action in September; off the mark over 5f at Wolverhampton (novice), adding another success with a late thrust at Chelmsford (5f, Class 5 handicap) three weeks ago; 2lb higher; 6f shouldn't trouble.

Form: 0-32131

(8)

Wiley Post^b³¹

Age: 6| Weight: 9-4| J: Hollie Doyle| T: A W Carroll| OR: 77| BF

8/1

3lb higher than when beating Tan by 1½L at Brighton (5½f, good to firm) in September; set plenty to do when a beaten favourite on AW debut at Kempton (5f) latest - never troubled the leaders; certainly isn't discounted.

Form: 753135

(2)

Ghost Queen²⁷¹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-4| J: Gaia Boni⁽⁷⁾| T: W Jarvis| OR: 77

33/1

Made all when winning a Catterick nursery (7f, good to firm) for Simon Crisford in October 2018; absent since competing at Meydan in the early months of 2019; joined this trainer for 10,000gns in July.

Form: 2413-00

(5)

Joegogo⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 9-3| J: David Probert| T: P D Evans| OR: 76| BF| C| D

10/1

Increasingly difficult to win with nowadays (5-24 overall on the AW) but drops back to his last winning mark (75) so that will undoubtedly aid his chances; fourth to Thegreatestshowman here (5f) last Saturday.

Form: 363934

(7)

Oberyn Martell¹²⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-2| J: Charles Bishop| T: Eve Johnson Houghton| OR: 75| D

25/1

Regressive; has beaten just a single rival in his last five racecourse visits (5f-6f); demonstrably possessed the required ability as a juvenile and theoretically is attractively handicapped; in fairness is also relatively unexposed on the AW (0-1).

Form: 400598

(1)

Spring Romance¹²⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 9-2| J: Joey Haynes| T: D K Ivory| OR: 75| CD

8/1

3-7 on the AW (includes 2 C&D wins); made all and battled on gamely when springing a 25-1 surprise at Nottingham (6f, good to soft) in June; beaten at York next time and absent since (for 125 days).

Form: 2-49010

(11)

Gnaad¹⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 9-1| J: Darragh Keenan⁽³⁾| T: A Bailey| OR: 74

33/1

No win since September 2018 (5f, Sandown) and refused to race after rearing at the start at Southwell 19-days ago; can only be watched for the moment.

Form: 32750R

(9)

Daring Venture⁹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-0| J: J Mitchell| T: R Varian| OR: 73

11/2

Lightly raced (has made just six starts); comfortable winner of a 7f novice at Chelmsford in May, and not far from that same level of form since introduced to handicapping; easing marginally in the weights.

Form: 4-14547

Forecasts

Spirited Guest (9/4), Mohareb (9/2), Daring Venture (11/2), Wiley Post (8/1), Sonja Henie (8/1), Spring Romance (8/1), Joegogo (10/1), Chitra (20/1), Oberyn Martell (25/1), Gnaad (33/1), Ghost Queen (33/1), Laith Alareen (50/1)

Mohareb is a notable handicap debutant for Mick Appleby, while another chance is given to the fairly weighted Wiley Post on the basis that he struggled to really get involved in the race at Kempton (5f) last month. However, the progressive horse in the line-up is the George Margarson-trained SPIRITED GUEST who promises to be suited by today's extra furlong. He's fancied to improve his already impressive AW strike-rate (2-4; 50%).