Friday is Horses For Courses (H4C) report day at Geegeez and this feature does exactly what you'd expect, as it shows the full course history since 2009 of any horse running that has previously had a run at that track, sorted by number of wins, but this can be changed to any column at your discretion.
As well as today’s race time, course, horse name, jockey and trainer name, there is a breakdown of runs, wins and places, and profit and loss calculations for both win and each way betting. And as with all Geegeez reports, there is a ‘Today’ and a ‘Tomorrow’ (for the next day’s racing) view.
HINT: Layers might like to look towards the lower end of the report, for those with negative performance at the track, but please refer to our User Guide for further information.
My chosen settings for the report...
...have yielded a trio of qualifiers for Friday...
...and I can, of course, always fall back upon our daily list of 'free' races...
1.32 Ffos Las2.07 Ffos Las2.13 Down Royal- 3.05 Newcastle
3.52 Ffos Las- 5.30 Dundalk
...the weather has again decimated my options, but we do have an excellent contest left on that list, so I'm going to look at No Risk Des Flos and the 3.00 Wetherby, an 8-runner, Class 1, 4yo+ handicap chase over a left-handed 2m3½f on soft ground...
Arthur's Quay and Famous Bridge both won their last race, but they're up one and two classes respectively, although the latter comes here on a hat-trick. War Lord and Dubai Days are also up one class here, but the latter did finish as runner-up having won two starts ago. No Risk Des Flos also won two races ago and was third at this grade last time out, whilst Shan Blue, War Lord and Frero Banbou have all been beaten in each of their last seven outings.
None of the field have raced in the last 14 weeks and War Lord runs for the first time since undergoing wind surgery. Frero Banbou is the only one in the field without a win over a similar trip, whilst four horses have won previously here at Wetherby. Shan Blue and No Risk Des Flos are course and distance winners, whilst Famous Bridge's last two runs have both been wins on this track over 2m6f and 3m½f, so he's very much down in trip today. Dubai Day's win here was in a 2m, Class 4 handicap hurdle way back in February 2021 and the entire field's form at today's going, class, tack and trip are documented by Instant Expert...
...where it's good to see a few soft ground successes, although Frero Banbou's 0/4 is a strange one, as his two career wins have been on good to soft and heavy! He has also struggled to win at Class1, as have Shan Blue and War Lord. Our three track winners have clocked up six wins between them over fences and from just nine efforts, so it's not just a case of throwing enough mud at the door to make it stick. Trip-wise, Gloire D'Athon's record is fantastic and he's two from two at Class 2. I'm now going see if he made the frame in those two defeats over this type of trip...
...well, he placed in one of the two and that's a sterling effort. The only two I have reservations about from the above are Frero Banbou (going) and Arthur's Quay (trip).
Twenty-odd similar past races haven't shown a massive pace bias from a win perspective...
...but you'd probably want to be on one that races prominently or even leads and based on the field's most recent efforts...
...I'm not convinced if any/many will want to take it on and we might well get a falsely run race, which I find suits the mid-division type of runner best, as they've less ground to make up than usual.
Summary
With the pace projections hinting that mid-divisional runners might go well and the fact that he's got a great record over this trip, I'm instantly drawn towards Gloire D'Athon. He wasn't at this best at Market Rasen last time out, but he drops back 3f to his preferred type of trip. He gets soft ground and is unexposed at Class 1 (but 2 from 2 at C2) and whilst maybe not an obvious pick, 10/1 with both Bet365 and Hills seems too big to ignore for an E/W bet.
As for a winner, I think I fancy Famous Bridge to continue his fine form and complete a Wetherby hat-trick, he's only up 3lbs for a relatively comfortable win here in March and the 6f drop in trip should help. He's currently 9/2 with both Bet365 & Hills, which is interesting, as I thought he'd be around the 3/1 mark.
Shan Blue is the current 3/1 fav and whilst he has undoubted talent, he hasn't raced since being pulled up last Boxing Day and concedes weight all round. he has been well beaten or failed to complete each of his last five and 3/1 doesn't appeal to me, although a big run wouldn't be a massive surprise.
No Risk Des Flos has obvious appeal based on the H4C report, but he's no E/W pick at 6's, so I'll leave it there. They're the four I see as the main protagonists and I'll back two.
Other Recent Posts by This Author:
- Tix Picks, Saturday 04/01/25
- Tix Picks, Friday 03/01/25
- Tix Picks, Thursday 02/01/25
- Tix Picks, Tuesday 31/12/24
- Tix Picks, Monday 30/12/24
