Great Leighs 20/11/08

[Spooner]

19:20 - Cape I put this horse up a few runs ago when she ran at Newmarket and she was quite disappointing that day, She comes here tonight though running off a mark which saw her last win, Only ever ran over this 6f trip. She has never raced here before but most horses adapt easily enough. Trainer also in a bit of form, Quinn booked to ride. 5pts e/w @ 9/1 Stan James

[fintron]

Re: Great Leighs 20/11/08 6.50 The four that drew my attention were last time out winners Fast Freddie and Sands Crooner and also two that are dropping in the weights that could be potentially well treated, Ten Down and Northern Empire. Fast Freddie overcame a wide draw to win at Wolverhampton last time out and runs over the same trip and in the same grade under a penalty here. In his favour, he has been dealt a much better draw here than last time and having won by 3.75 lengths last time, a penalty may not necessarily stop him. He is versatile with regards to tactics as he's won from the front for his last couple of wins, but was held up at Lingfield earlier in his career and won then too. However, the 9/4 price is a little offputting given that he's 6 lbs above his last winning mark. Sands Crooner produced a fantastic performance to score at Wolverhampton last time out. He was in the rear in the opening stages but picked them off one by one with a late burst and had today's opponent Silvanus behind. Like Fast Freddie, he shoulders a 6 lb penalty here so is now 6 lbs above his last winning mark and he may be vulnerable. He likes to come from off the pace though and if the likes of Billy Red and Ten Down jostle for the lead then he may pick them off late on. You could take a chance on him at 9/1 with Queally in the saddle again. Ten Down isn't a bad little all-weather horse really and this 3 yo has notched up five of his six victories on polytrack. His best form came when with Jamie Osbourne, who managed to win with him off marks up to 78, but he lost his way a little with Gay Kelleway and after winning on their debut run in April this year, failed to follow up in seven subsequent tries. He makes his debut for Micky Quinn tonight though, and switched back to polytrack he is potentially down to an attractive mark running off 72 - 10 lbs lower than when he ran here in May. He will attempt to make all, so his draw in stall 4 is good, but there is a slight concern that he hasn't run for 81 days and the presence of Billy Red in the line up, who made all when winning over 6f here recently, means he will not get an uncontested lead. It is quite possible the pair could set this up for a fast finisher. Northern Empire goes for Kevin Ryan with sand king Neil Callan taking the ride. He hasn't won since January when scoring at Kempton off 85 in a higher grade than this, so he is potentially dangerous running off 72 here after another 4 lbs drop in the weights than from his last run, when 8th of 9 in a class 3 handicap at Southwell. He is drawn in stall 11 but that is not a massive worry. Although he made all when picking up his maiden at Windsor, he was a class above those rivals, and his way of running in his two subsequent wins suggest he doesn't necessarily have to race prominelty. When he won at Southwell the RP said he "missed a beat at the start, but picked up well entering the last and got on top when it mattered." Furthermore, at Kempton, he hit the front 1 furlong out and the RP form reader commented "the way he carried his head high suggested being in front was not possibly to his liking." He cannot be discounted running off such a low mark and it is worth noting that although he hasn't won for some time he has been running in class 2 handicaps worht £10-31k this summer. Tonight he's running in a class 5 race (first time since he won his maiden) worth just £3k to the winner and at 20/1 William Hill (BOG) I'm happy to have a little go.