Flat Racing; Tuesday 29th May

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2.30 Chepstow BERMONDSEY BOB 5pts to win @ 7/1 bog (Bet365) Bermondsey Bob is a C&D specialist. The 6yo gelding trained by John Spearing has collected 6 wins and 7 seconds in 46 career starts and half of his wins came over today's C&D. He ran over 6f here at Chepstow just 5 times and won thrice, finishing 4th of 15 beaten just 1L and 2nd of 9 in the other two outings over C&D. His last win came last July always over 6f but at Brighton on good to firm and off 67 which is a mark 4lb higher than today's one and in August always over 6f but at Lingfield (good) he was second off 70. Cathy Gannon rode him for his last win over C&D when Bermondsey Bob won a 17-runner class 6 handicap off 61 recording a TS of 70 and a RPR of 75 who are by far his best ever figures. Cathy is riding better than ever (4 winners from her last 12 rides) and John Spearing has saddled a nice winner last week (from just 5 runners) and has had 4 more top5 finishers in the last fortnight so the Kinnersley-based stable are in good form. The horse was named like this because Alan Campbell (his owner) was born in Bermondsey and his father, who unfortunately died, was called Bob and he always promised himself that if he was lucky enough to own a racehorse it would be named after his father (nice story). The Campbell-owned 6yo has got the second best draw (stall number 16 from 17 which means close to the rail) and that's surely not a bad news as he is a front runner and getting soon next to the rail could be helpful. Bermondsey Bob never ran well fresh and did the same this year finishing last of 16 30L behind the winner on his first race of 2012 at Warwick in April (good to soft) but ran well last time out leading until the 1/2f pole in a 6f handicap at Salisbury (good to firm) where he just faded in the last 100 yards to finish 9th 2L behind the winner. The horse has won also on good to soft but surely prefers a quicker ground and will get it here. Over today's C&D he finished second on this corresponding race one year ago but that race was on very soft ground and the winner Gracie's Games loves those conditions as she showed many times (won again on soft on her second last start and comes here as the in-form horse and one of the market leaders at the moment). So the horse loves this track, is a multiple winner over C&D, is very well handicapped, gets well with today's jockey who has been riding very well of late, stable in good form, perfect draw, favourite ground, and surely able to build on his nice last effort which should have put him at perfection for this race. Besides Gracie's Games, who won't find her favourite ease in the ground and faces my selection on 3lb worse terms than last time she beat him over today's C&D on soft ground one year ago, the main danger should be Lady Bayside who is a very lightly raced (8th career start today) 4yo chestnut filly by Ishiguru. The Macolm Saunders-trained filly knows this track very well since she raced here 5 times in 7 starts and won her maiden last August after a couple of near misses. She won and ran her best races with a bit of ease in the ground (good to soft, soft) and ran her worst two races (6th and beaten 7L and 16th beaten 18.5L) on good to firm. She has been running over 7f and 1m so this is her first ever race over this distance and even if she is a strong travelling horse she comes from behind and doesn't exactly seem the type of horse crying out for a drop in distance. Surely Saunders knows her better and has a very good history with sprinters and over this track (22% strike rate at Chepstow over the last 5 seasons) and last time out (her seasonal debut at Salisbury over 7f on good ground 12 days ago) she finished 4th (5.5L behind the easy winner) but was running better than any other runner in the last furlong and that was surely a promising effort. I can see Lady Bayside as the main danger in the last 100 yards but I do really hope that my selection will be in front enough to save himself over this trip that could well be too short (especially on very fast ground) for the Saunders-trained filly.

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Re: Flat Racing; Tuesday 29th May 5.30 Cheptsow EXCELLENT NEWS 4pts to win @ 17/2 bog (Bet365) I rate Excellent News a talented filly, not a champion of course but surely a horse who has the ability to be rated way better than 60. First reason to believe that is her nice race in a maiden at Newbury over 1m on good to firm last October (her second ever start 18 days after her debut at Leicester). She finished 7th of 15 that day and that was a very strong maiden compared to her actual level as the winner was Shirocco Star (one of the best 3 yo fillies over middle distances in UK/IRE at the moment and runner in the Oaks at Epsom this weekend) and there were a bunch of good fillies like the frustrating Gosden-trained Derivatives (5th that day and 5 times second, 3 times third and once fourth in her next 9 starts on the AW this winter/spring) and the Morrison-trained Supaheart (6th just a neck ahead of Excellent News that day, which was also for her the second career start) who won in very nice style a handicap off 65 two weeks ago and was sent off favourite yesterday in a 1m handicap at Windsor racing off 70 where she led until 2f out and faded in the end after having found it very difficult to handle the twist and turns of the Windsor track (quirky filly but surely talented). So that's a very strong form in this contest (0-60 class 6 handicap) and Excellent News proved on her own to be a decent filly improving a lot once upped in trip this spring on the AW as she finished 2nd on her first start over 1m2f at Lingfield in February racing off 60 and won next time out (22 Mar) at Wolverhampton over 1m4f off 61. That was not a big race but she bolted up. Upped 7lb in the rating she faced a little hot race again over that C&D in April (second last start) finishing 4th of 4 and never getting into the race after a bad start, having been also hampered by the winner at one stage and never appreciating the steady pace. Last time out she made her seasonal debut on turf racing at Windsor over 1m4f on very testy ground. She finished 6th of 7 and was never at the race on a ground she never liked. So I'd like to forgive both her last two efforts and back on turf on a quick ground she could prove to be better than her actual rating (60) as she proved already winning with ease off 61 on the AW and at current prices it's a must bet for me.