Andrew Asquith has looked over the ITV races at Sandown and Wincanton on Saturday and has found two selections.
Andrew Asquith tips: Saturday January 4
1pt win Ninth Loch in the 3.15 Wincanton at 7/1 (Betvictor, Ladbrokes, Coral, Betfred)
1pt win Aurigny Mill in the 3.35 Sandown at 10/1 (General)
The weather has the potential to scupper racing at both Sandown and Wincanton on Saturday with sub-zero forecasts overnight, but it is set to warm up throughout the morning and both courses are raceable on Friday. Hopefully, there will be no problems.
At Wincanton there is an interesting horse starting out for Harry Derham in the Unibet More Extra Place Races Handicap Hurdle in the shape of NINTH LOCH. He is a Flat-bred horse who started his career with Willie Mullins, looking inexperienced on his debut in a bumper at Punchestown, but he built on that effort as expected when opening his account next time in a strongly-run bumper at Kilbeggan, running to a fairly useful level.
Ninth Loch went on to finish runner-up to the now-smart The Wallpark on his hurdling debut, a horse who has won multiple times since, including a Pertemps qualifier at Cheltenham from a BHA mark of 145, and he also was beaten just over three lengths in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot last month.
He again filled the runner-up spot on his final start for Mullins, and has gone on to win three times in France for Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm.
He reached a fairly useful level of form for those connections, too, his best effort coming when winning a five-year-old event at Auteuil in March earlier this year.
Ninth Loch was last seen winning a claiming hurdle back at Auteuil in November and was claimed by Harry Derham and the Jersey Racing Friends for €21,506 afterwards. He didn’t need to be at his best to prevail that day, but his back form suggests he’s potentially well treated now starting out in Britain from a mark of 122.
Miss Victoria Malzard, who is booked to ride, may not be so familiar to some, but she is an accomplished rider in Jersey, and has also ridden a few winners for Derham for the same owners. She has a 27% strike rate when riding in Britain for this yard and, as Derham has displayed on so many occasions already, he is a trainer to note with new recruits – he has an excellent 34% strike rate with horses having their first start for the yard.
Ninth Loch stays two and a quarter miles, though this will be the furthest he’s raced over. On pedigree, you wouldn’t have him down as a stayer, but his run style suggests he is well worth a try at this longer trip, so it is interesting that new connections start him over this far with the hood back on.
There are some interesting and relatively unexposed hurdlers in this field, but Ninth Loch is potentially starting out from a lenient mark based on Timeform’s figures, and is worth chancing at his current odds.
Over at Sandown, there is another hurdler who has caught the eye and that is the Robert Walford-trained AURIGNY MILL in the Free Bet With Unibet’s Betbuilder Rebound Handicap Hurdle.
He was no slouch when trained by Victor Dartnall, winning three times in total, including back-to-back handicaps at Wincanton and Kempton last season. The form of that latter success worked out well, and he showed improved form starting out for this yard when successful at Newbury on his return from six months off in November.
That was an impressive victory, given a very confident ride in a strongly-run race, having plenty to do entering the straight, quickly making up around 10 lengths to challenge at the second-last, and he readily moved clear coming down to the final flight.
He continued to ramp it up on the run-in, having 10 lengths in hand at the line, and the timefigure he recorded that day was excellent for the grade. The runner-up has franked the form since and it is probably best to put a line through Aurigny Mill’s latest effort at Ascot.
Again, he was out the back of the field, but he was badly hampered at the third flight which knocked his rhythm and likely his confidence. Aurigny Mill was never able to get back on terms afterwards but he kept to his task well and he is surely better than the bare form he showed that day.
There are a few who like to race prominently in this field, so hopefully he’ll get a good gallop to aim at, and he represents a yard that is going along nicely at present. He’s been freshened up since and is well worth another chance to confirm the promise of his Newbury success, especially at a double-figure price.
Published at 1400 GMT on 03/01/25
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