Lingfield - 17th Feb 2007

1:35 - pontinsbingo.com Handicap (Class 5)

Evens Barney McGrew, 8/1 Silent Storm, 10/1 His Master’s Voice, 12/1 Ivory Lace, 30/1 Inch by Inch

Legitimate favourite Barney McGrew went into my notebook recently as a winner in waiting due to a poor stall position. Today his main rival Lii Najma is a non-runner, which means that Barney McGrew can dominate or track the pace up front (behind Inch by Inch), consequently he has moved firmly into the “no bet” region.

Well-rated Ivory Lace has excellent place form here, both His Masters Voice and Silent Storm are on or near winning BHB handicap marks, front running Inch by Inch is figured to finish tailed off, but may hang on for a 3rd place position. Lets see if we can squeeze some profit from the exotics using the experimental bank.

A. Barney McGrew. B. Ivory Lace C. His Masters Voice, D Silent Storm E. Inch By Inch

A/BC exacta

A/BC/BCDE trifecta

2:05 1m - pontinsbingo.com Conditions Stakes (Class 2)

3/1 Party Boss, 7/2 Red Spell, 9/2 Orchard Supreme, 5/1 Ceremonial Jade

Hmmmm. The front two on my tissue have form on the board in level weight contests, so cant understand why they are drifting on the exchanges. Long may the drift continue. At the odds I’ll back Party Boss who is rated higher on polytrack and see if I can get anyone on the exchanges to match my price on Red Spell.

3:50 5f - Pontin's Family Holidays Handicap (Class 2)

5/2 Maltese Falcon, 3/1 Turn On The Style, 6/1 Qadar, 10/1 Distinctly Game, 20/1 Total Impact

Drawn in stall 3 and 1 respectively front-runners Maltese Falcon and Turn On The Style will be eyeballing each other the whole race. Conventional handicapping would suggest that they’ll cut each other throats and both will finish out of the frame. Not in this race, both of these runners have the class to "make all" however one of them will blink, fold under the pace pressure and the other will go onto win. Fortunately both are too short in the market, which stops me backing the wrong one.

Of the outsiders, I really like the unexposed Total Impact who runs well fresh and gets his favoured ground today (each-way)

However, in terms of exotics if I continue with the logic above, avoiding the obvious exacta (Maltese Falcon or Turn On The Style to beat each other or Qadar) I’ll shoot for one of the front two to beat one of the outsiders

A. Maltese Falcon B. Turn On The Style C. Distinctly Game D. Total Impact

AB/CD exacta