BBOTD Monday 22nd

[cpo]

3.10 Pontefract Galician 1pt win @ 7/1 Ladbrokes I think they key with this horse is she finally gets a drop back to 6f. All 3 career wins have come over this trip and to me she always ran as though 7f stretches her so it is a surprise that connections have chosen to run her over 7f on her last 5 runs. She is still 8lbs above her highest winning mark, which came at Ayr last year but I think she could be well treated here off 88 considering her half length defeat to Mince at Ascot back in August. She certainly wasn’t given the best chance of winning that day by Chantal Sutherland as she ridden far too far from off the pace but finished like a train to get 2^nd. Had she been ridden more prominently then I believe she would have beaten Mince. That piece of form would surely put her in with a great chance of winning this race as Mince won her next 3 starts after defeating Galician, which included 2 listed successes and a group 3 success. She has had 1 more run over 6f since that run, when sent off favourite for a good race at Newmarket. She appeared to get outpaced in the race before tussling with another rival when starting to stay on. The gap ahead of her closed and she had to switch ride but she ran on strongly to finish 5^th. I think tomorrow looks an ideal race for her as she has the plum draw in 1 and in all of her 3 wins so far she has been ridden up with the pace. If she can get out in front, then I see her being very tough to pass with Franny Norton doing the steering. Mark Johnston is in fine form at the moment and had a couple of big winners at the weekend. He does well at this track and I think he can enhance that record tomorrow with Galician. The main danger looks to be Head Space for whom there has already been some money. This horse was well backed on his seasonal debut at Beverley and was only just denied the win. I feel the yard are going to hit a purple patch sooner or later as plenty of their horses are going well backed at the moment. The yard must clearly feel they have their horses in peak condition. I just hope this one doesn’t chin me on the line like Dubai Dynamo did yesterday!

[Jimmy2shoes]

Re: BBOTD Monday 22nd 9 runs with zero wins but sole runner for trainer J.Best. Its only the 3yr olds second visit to Kempton where he was 4th last time out, jockey M.Barzalona gets the leg up for the first time, looks a wide open race that anyone of them could win. 2:20 Kempton - Otto the first. 1pt win @ sp