Doncaster Placepot (10th Sep 2005)

Soft going, three 2yo races (including a nursery handicap), two 3yo+ handicaps, thousands of St Ledger hyped punters swelling the pool and poor favourite stats at this meeting, Doncaster has the feel of a placepot punt today.

Normal modus operandi for selections, just ruthlessly oppose the favourite whenever possible

1:40 1m 2f - ladbrokes.com Stakes (Handicap) (Class 2) 3yo+
Come On Johnny, Leos Luckyman, Dancer's Serenade

2:15 1m - Porcelanosa Stakes (Handicap) (Class 2) 3yo+
Another difficult race for punters given the poor favourite stats. This race took a bit of working out and for once Pricewise and I agree on the selections of Kamanda Laugh and St Andrews both ½ point win bets.

2:50 5f - Polypipe Flying Childers Stakes (Group 2) (Class 1) 2yo
Another difficult race, selections are based on breeding preference for soft going. Upper Hand, River Thames

3:25 1m 6f - Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) 3yo
I hold an ante-post voucher on the Geezer and will be following his progress during the race. Unfortunately I think that competitive events earlier in the year will mean this is a race too far. However from a placepot perspective I hope the ground or some other factor will cause an upset and bring down all placepot units riding on Scorpion. Hard Top and the Geezer are the selections

4:05 6f - GNER Conditions Stakes (Class 4) 2yo
Based on history, lightly raced types toward the head of the market are the ones to concentrate on. With soft going complicating matters the selections are Tufton and Misu Bond

4:40 7f - Earth Mortgages Nursery (Class 4) 2yo
There are a lot of horses that like to be held up in this race which might play into the hands of a front-runner given the soft going. With prices of 20/1, 12/1, 12/1, 16/1 in recent years, market principles need not apply. The key stat is 66% of nurseries are won by horses that ran within the last 21 days.

I like the look of North Walk (½ point win) who is unexposed in handicaps and is still open to improvement and on pace analysis will lead the way and might take some catching. Archon Star is well suited to today’s conditions so is a worthy favourite. The frustrating Yankee George (½ point win) is given one more chance on speed, form ratings and breeding.

144 lines @ 10p line - £14.40