Our daily duo of Rory Delargy and David Massey have two Hereford selections as they look to get off to the best possible start this week.
1pt win Honey I’m Good in 2.40 Hereford at 9/2 (Hills, Unibet) - min 4/1
1pt win Good Lord in 4.20 Hereford at 4/1 (Hills, bet365) - min 7/2
The second run after a breathing operation is often a better time to back a horse than the first, with the previous effort often an opportunity for the horse to get a positive experience on the track which builds both fitness and confidence.
That may well be the case for Fourtowns, who has the ability to win the opening contest despite top weight, and may well improve on a recent fourth of 14 to Prolific Profile in a similar handicap at Uttoxeter last time.
Fourtowns matched previous efforts at Uttoxeter, but should still gain some benefit from that run, coming as it did after surgery and also after a bad experience when falling at Newton Abbot in August.
If he does improve at all for that effort then he will be very hard to beat in a race lacking depth.
HONEY I'M GOOD looks overpriced in the mares’ chase for all she appears to be the second string of her stable on riding arrangements.
Arctic Footprint is out of the weights and has no form over fences, while the pair disputing favouritism both scraped home in weak handicaps last time and must defy the handicapper to follow up. That’s perfectly possible, of course, but Honey I’m Good has been running just as well as that pair, winning at Stratford and continuing to run with credit.
Honey I’m Good ran into a tartar at Fakenham last time, with the lightly raced Telepathique looking thrown in on her chasing debut, and the 2m5f trip there was too sharp in any case.
The return to a trip in excess of 3m will suit, and while effectively summed up by her current mark, I think she can go very close in a race of this nature.
I made the point last week that backing Billy Aprahamian’s horses on the second start back from an absence was a potentially profitable ploy, and that was proven with the victory of Pep Talking at Uttoxeter on Friday.
Pep Talking had shaped very well on debut for Aprahamian but faded in the closing stages as if not fully fit before improving to win last week, landing a gamble in the process.
GOOD LORD fits the same profile, travelling well at Sedgefield last time on his chase debut but not persevered with after seeming to blow up between the last two fences.
He will surely strip much fitter for that and can continue to advertise the excellent form of the stable’s handicap chasers.
Published at 0915 GMT 04/11/24
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