DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
FRIDAY MARCH 7
4.10 AYR
BOTH BARRELS (best price 5-1) not only loves it at today’s Scottish venue, he also comes good at this time of year and the combination of those two factors could easily see the seven-year-old chestnut see his fortunes well and truly revived.
Donald Whillans’ inmate has been sent off as short as 11-4 and 4-1 for his first two starts this season, so it’s fair to say he’s been slightly underwhelming but his latest effort at Kelso wasn’t as bad as first feared – certainly based on the speed figure of the race.
Prior to him needed the run badly on his stable debut, he hasn’t finished out of the money on all his other three outings at the track and those stats bode well for his return visit being a positive one.
BOTH BARRELS – 1-point each-way@5-1
4.20 EXETER
BAMPTON STAR (NAP) (best price 5-2) was undeniably disappointing at Chepstow last time out but it’s worth pointing out, not for the first time, Jermey Scott’s gelding has run poorly at the Welsh venue, whereas at today’s track, he’s a different kettle of fish.
The strange thing about his performance at the Welsh venue, he actually travelled and jumped well for three quarters of the journey but when asked for maximum effort from three out, he folded rather tamely and that suggests other forces were at play.
Prior to the perplexing display, he ran a blinder to finish third to subsequent big race winner Katate Dori over today’s C&D and with all his other previous visits to the west country venue yielding two victories, there’s a strong chance on those trends he can come alive at his favourite track.
BAMPTON STAR – 1-point win@5-2