Folkestone 30th April

[chris34]

2.45 Billybeetroot looks to have a chance to break his maiden tag today, has been knocking on door since coming back this spring and is the highest rated horse in the field today 1pt win billybeetroot

[fintron]

Re: Folkestone 30th April 5.05 Folkestone I'm looking forward to this race immensely now Jamie Spencer has been taken off Annabelle's Charm. The filly is proving a bit of an enigma - whilst seemingly talented and well handicapped, she is yet to make her mark in handicaps after stepping out of maidens. I refuse to accept she cannot find a race off her current mark of 74. IMO she was one of the best handicapped horses on the AW when allocated a rating of 72 prior to her run at Lingfield in January, but some strange movements on Betfair and a poor ride from Jamie Spencer meant she failed to even make the frame. The official explanation for that no show was that she failed to handle the bend. Given a mini-break, she returned to action on Easter Monday at Yarmouth. As has been the case for all of her starts, she was sent off favourite, but after she emerged through the blanket of fog that made viewing difficult, she looked a beaten horse, albeit if Spencer was very easy on her in the finish. The strange thing about that race is that it was won by a Barney Curley horse, who had been 20/1+ on Betfair in the morning, but was subjected to an almighty gamble, returning an SP of 4/1. What was remarkable about that win was that the winner had no form to its name. Apparently a winner back in Germany from earlier in its career, it had showed absolutely nothing on its recent starts in England, finishing 10th of 10 and beaten 62 lengths at Southwell on its previous run before Christmas. I refuse to accept that a horse as well handicapped as Annabelle's Charm, if running to her best, could be beaten by such a horse. Luca Cumani has addressed the problem by sending Dane O'Neill to ride this afternoon, and even though her mark has been nudged up to 74 now, she still looks handicapped to win. 3rd on her debut in a Lingfield maiden, she was only half a length off Wine 'n Dine (a handicap winner off 81), and the fourth, Antillia, has won off 62 and shapes as though she has more to offer now handicapping. The 5th, Cape Express, has scored off 83 too, so all in all, it looks solid maiden form, rubber stamped many times over. She showed when landing her maiden at Lingfield that she has the ability to get her head infront, and that run shows she gets this trip fine. The thing that worries me is that she is so big on Betfair again. She's trading around the 9/2 to 5/1 mark this morning, and that seems criminally big for a horse like her (from a big yard, and well handicapped). Have punters abandoned her and run out of patience after several below par efforts, or is today going to be another one of her bad days? I'll take a chance that people have given up on her, keep the faith myself, and hope to be rewarded with a price that is double what I expected here to be taking this morning.