16:30 Southwell

Thursday 19 December 2019

All13:3014:0014:3015:0015:3016:0016:30

Betway Live Casino Handicap

Off time: 16:31 | Winning time: 1m 15.6s

(4)

Liamba^v²⁰

Age: 4| Weight: 9-8| J: D Nolan| T: D O'Meara| OR: 66| CD

13/8

May C&D winner; is gradually being cut some slack by the handicapper and drops back into a Class 6 accordingly; was beaten 1¼L (third) by Esprit De Corps over C&D (penultimate); definite chance.

Form: 177334

(6)

Our Charlie Brown^p⁵⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 9-7| J: Phil Dennis| T: D C Griffiths| OR: 65| BF

14/1

August Catterick winner (7f, soft) who races from a 7lb higher mark; his previous AW experiences (0-4) are exclusive to Tapeta at Newcastle and Wolverhampton.

Form: 041435

(5)

Lightning Charlie¹⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 9-6| J: P Mulrennan| T: I Jardine| OR: 64| D

9/2

Won six-races during his career for Amanda Perrett; looked to be working back to form on his second start for Iain Jardine when a creditable fourth (beaten 2L) to Etikaal at Newcastle (6f) ten days ago.

Form: 940094

(7)

Almurr¹⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 9-6| J: S H James| T: Phillip Makin| OR: 64| D

5/1

No win since taking a Newbury novice (6f, good to firm) for Brian Meehan in July 2018; placed (beaten 3½L) behind Wasntexpectingthat at Newcastle (6f) last month; 3lb lower with more needed on Fibresand debut.

Form: 656737

(3)

Global Melody^t1,v¹⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 9-6| J: Dylan Hogan⁽⁵⁾| T: P S McEntee| OR: 64| C

4/1

Course winner (5f) who has been in the thick of the action at this track in recent weeks (6f-7f); wouldn't necessarily have a massive amount of extra improvement to find in a newly applied tongue-tie (accompanies the visor).

Form: 444834

(1)

Napping¹⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 9-5| J: Gabriele Malune⁽³⁾| T: Miss A Murphy| OR: 63| D

20/1

Displayed a good attitude when winning on the turf at Lingfield (6f, good to firm) in August but her record on synthetics now stands at 0-15 and that's rather off-putting.

Form: 314608

(8)

Red Invader⁵⁶

Age: 9| Weight: 9-4| J: Joey Haynes| T: J Butler| OR: 62| C

40/1

Won back-to-back races on the AW during the spring (including here over 5f); often moody since, generally slowly away and has also refused to race (at Windsor); it's difficult to be ultra-confident about his chances.

Form: 18R097

(2)

Kentucky Kingdom¹⁷

Age: 3| Weight: 9-2| J: G Lee| T: H J Evans| OR: 60

14/1

Maiden (0-7); left William Haggas for 17,000gns in July; has taken time to recapture his peak form for James Evans, albeit was a respectable second to Sherpa Trail in a Wolverhampton novice median auction (7f) 17 days ago; possibilities.

Form: 3-34502

Forecasts

Liamba (13/8), Global Melody (4/1), Lightning Charlie (9/2), Almurr (5/1), Our Charlie Brown (14/1), Kentucky Kingdom (14/1), Napping (20/1), Red Invader (40/1)

Liamba may take advantage of a return to a Class 6 handicap, while the consistent (and now tongue-tied) Global Melody makes more appeal than plenty. Nevertheless, the selection is the Iain Jardine-trained LIGHTNING CHARLIE. Formerly a useful handicapper for Amanda Perrett (sold for 8,500gns) this seven-year-old gelding shaped as if working back to form for his new handler on the AW at Newcastle (fourth) recently. Clearly somewhat of a 6f specialist, he's fancied to strike at the first time of asking on Fibresand.