A meeting with the Harrowgate man

A short bus trip from Leeds to the Wetherby and with an hour to spare it’s time for a quick visit to The Red Lion on the High Street to meet your Harrogate man to sample the remedial qualities of the locally made Black Sheep ale. There’s not a lot moving in and around  the dales that this character hasn’t heard about. After much discussion you should have a fair idea of what’s fancied on the card. Unfortunately you have to sponsor the session (including his takeout order)  but that’s the way the game is played in Yorkshire lad.

Still undecided ?, let’s have a quick look at some stats that might guide us through the afternoon. Leading jockeys at the track include Brian Hughes ,in form with a Market Rasen winner yesterday, Dennis O’Regan (struck with Mics Delight yesterday) and Graham Lee who has gone ten days since his last win on Posh Bird in the North Yorkshire National at Catterick.

Trainers that normally do well here include Donald McCain who struck with a brilliant Haydock treble on Saturday, the locally based Mickey Hammond and Jonjo O’Neill, a stable that somewhat worryingly has produced one winner only from their last twenty eight runners.

The Racing Post experts to a man go with Ashbrittle in the 3.15 as their most popular selection of the day while it might also be worth pointing out that their  ratings man puts up Mission Complete as his best bet of the day in the long distance handicap hurdle at 2.15. Finally, best longshot award has been given to Georgedoubleyou, in the conditional rider’s handicap at 4.15.

A couple of track facts for you to ponder also at Wetherby today . Dawn Ride looks for his fifth course success in the handicap hurdle at 2.15. Jockey Tom Scu’ and trainer Jim Best have a lethal 38% strike rate here at the track, an encouraging pointer perhaps to the chances of hurdling newcomer Wayward Glance in the opener at 1.15  while  champion trainer Nicky Henderson brings one runner only to the meeting ,Cucumber Run in the novices chase at 2.45, could be significant!

The markets are not terribly revealing this early in the morning although Wayward Glance seems lively at 7-2 in the juvenile hurdle at 1.15 .Grey Cruzene is another that is being nibbled at in the 1.45 at 3 and 11-4 while somewhat surprisingly Cucumber Run appears easy to back at evens and
11-10 in the novice’s chase at 2.45 .

Enjoy your Monday afternoon racing here at Star Spreads and don’t forget to call us for all the latest news on winning distances, S.P’s, jockey indices, match bets plus much much more. You won’t be disappointed!

Donal