18:35 Leicester

Monday 22 May 2017

All18:0518:3519:0519:3520:0520:35

James Ward Selling Stakes

Off time: 18:35 | Winning time: 2m 43.27s

1^st

(8)

Retrieve

109-4

1/2f

T: J A OsborneJ: D C Costello

Tracked leader, led over 2f out, soon hard pressed, held on well towards finish tchd 4/7

2^nd

1 ¼

(7)

Moon Over Rio

68-9

3/1

T: B HaslamJ: Megan Nicholls (5)

Held up towards rear, headway over 2f out, every chance final furlong, kept on and held towards finish op 7/2 tchd 11/4

3^rd

(2)

Mr Standfast

49-0

25/1

T: A PhillipsJ: Kieren Fox

Led, headed over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, soon weakened op 33/1 tchd 20/1

4^th

(3)

The Greedy Boy

49-0

12/1

T: S FlookJ: Joshua Bryan (7)

Tracked leaders, ridden over 1f out, no extra op 10/1

5^th

(6)

Whitchurch

59-0

16/1

T: P A KirbyJ: P Aspell

Held up towards rear, ridden over 1f out, soon weakened

6^th

2 ½

(4)

Optical High

89-0

33/1

T: A ForbesJ: Aled Beech (7)

Slowly away, in rear, pushed along over 4f out, lost place 3f out op 25/1

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Non-Runners

(5)

Dutch Barney²³

Weight: 9-0| Age: 7

T: B Leavy J: R Ffrench

(1)

Lady Lekki³⁴²

Weight: 8-9| Age: 5

T: B Haslam J: Adam J McNamara

Betting Breakdown

Tote Win:£1.40Pl:£1.02, £2.00EX:£2.40Trifecta:£13.70SF:£2.23Swingers:£1.02, £3.40, £4.20

Forecasts

Retrieve (1/2), Lady Lekki (13/8), Moon Over Rio (3/1), The Greedy Boy (12/1), Whitchurch (16/1), Mr Standfast (25/1), Optical High (33/1), Dutch Barney (100/1)

This is a very weak race indeed in which the veteran RETRIEVE is the one with by far the best form in the book. There are concerns over his ability on the forecast soft ground but if showing he can handle it he should make easy work of these, including several horses who have never won a race, nor look likely to. Lady Lekki looks the second-best option, and has shown she does handle cut, while Whitchurch has been running poorly on the all-weather but has an outside chance on his return to turf.