Thursday's free feature, the Instant Expert racecard tab is one of Geegeez readers' most popular tools because it has the unique ability to condense the entire form profile of every runner in the race into a single, easily digestible, view covering the form in terms of wins (or places), runs, and win (or place) percentage for each of going, class, course, distance, and field size.
It also compares today’s official rating with the horse’s last winning official rating. The display is colour coded: green for a higher percentage rate, amber for a middling percentage, and red for a low percentage. Horses with no form under a certain condition have grey figures.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Where a horse has no UK/Irish form – i.e. it is having its first run in Britain or Ireland under Rules – it will not show up on Instant Expert at all.
We make this feature freely available to ALL readers EVERY Thursday for ALL races, including, naturally, our selection of 'free' races as follows...
- 4.45 Doncaster
- 4.55 Sandown
- 5.30 Yarmouth
- 7.00 Yarmouth
- 7.45 Newbury
- 7.50 Leopardstown
...and the highest-rated of the five UK races above is Race 4 of the new season of the Racing League aka the 7.00 Yarmouth, an 11-runner, Class 3, 3yo+ flat handicap over a straight 7f on good to firm ground...
My immediate thoughts were that this might well be a three-way battle between (in card order) Yantarni, Love Billy Boy and Pedro Valentino, but I don't want to dismiss any of these too soon, of course.
Love Billy Boy won last time out, as did Oliver Show who has won two of his three, a feat only bettered by Yantarni who has won each of his last three. Pedro Valentino has won two of his last five Exquisite Acclaim is two from six and Woodstock is two from seven.
Storm Star has raced just three times, but won on debut as did Ziggys Condor who is 0 from 5 since despite two really good runner-up finishes at York. Farhh To Shy, Holy Fire and How Impressive are on the cold list, though after 8, 11 and 7 respective consecutive defeats.
Farhh To Shy's cause may be helped by a drop down in class, as do Love Billy Boy and Ziggy's Condor, but Oliver Show, the cold Holy Fire and joint bottom weight Pedro Valentino all step up one class, whilst it's a two-step rise for in-form Yantarni.
The other joint bottom weight runner, Storm Star, runs in a handicap for just the second time, whilst Ziggy's Condor is now fitted with cheekpieces. Oliver Show hasn't been seen for 101 days since winning at Kempton (15th April), but the others have all had at least one run in the last six weeks.
Four of this field (Holy Fire, Love Billy Boy, Ziggy's Condor and Storm Star) have yet to win over today's trip, whilst Farhh To Shy is the only course and distance winner here, having won this race last year off a pound higher. That's great, of course, but she hasn't won since! How Impressive also won here last September, getting home by three quarters of a length over 6f off a mark 5lbs lower than today's. Both of these course wins can be seen on the 2 year win version of today's feature, Instant Expert...
...where the in-form Yantarni is probably the one that catches the eye first, especially over today's trip. There aren't too many areas for concern above, but Woodstock's 1 from 7 over 7f is a slight worry, but that win was just two starts ago plus he also won over this trip on the A/W at Wolverhampton back in April. You'll also notice below that Woodstock has made the frame in half of those six defeats, suggesting that he might be one to watch from an E/W perspective...
...and at this point (without ruling any out), I'm more interested in the runners emerging from stalls 1, 4, 5, 8 and 10. I'm not too concerned that they're spread across the range of the stalls, but I don't expect much advantage from the draw here, as shown from previous contests here...
...but a straight run on good to form ground here at Yarmouth always screams "early pace" to me and those 70-odd race above have certainly favoured those brave enough to try to win the race from the front...
...which opens the door slightly for the likes of Exquisite Acclaim and How Impressive, based on their recent efforts...
...although what I suspect will happen here is that they'll tow the nearby Pedro Valentino, Yantarni and Love Billy Boy in to the race and ultimately get swallowed up by them.
Summary
I started by suggesting that this might well be a three-way battle between (in card order) Yantarni, Love Billy Boy and Pedro Valentino and to be honest, I've not seen too much to shake/sway me from that, although Woodstock also became of interest during the process. I think Woodstock has a live (if slim) chance of making the frame, but I think he's going to need one of my trio to slip up to do so. That said at 20/1 with Betfair/PP, I wouldn't you off a small E/W bet, although I'd take the 18/1 and 4 places from Sky, if you're going to back him.
Now back to my chosen trio and based on the above, I'm going with the 9/2 Pedro Valentino to hold off the 4/1 Yantarni and Love Billy Boy, who is bordering on E/W territory at 15/2.
Odds quoted as of 5.15pm Wednesday.
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
