DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 26
4.01 WINCANTON
CLOTILDA failed to complete the course when last seen here a month ago but providing she has suffered no long-lasting damage from that fall; Paul Nicholls’ mare has a decent chance of bouncing back to form on her return to racing against her sex.
It was too far out to know how she would have got on at the west country venue, but she was going well at the time, and it is not an unfair estimation to suggest she would have been placed at the very least.
Prior to that untimely exit a mile from home, the daughter of Clovis Du Berlais had chased home the useful Alfie’s Princess over 2m4f a month earlier and the speed figure she posted in defeat that day was far from shabby.
Just one win in 18 doesn’t point to her being maximum stakes material but she has enough ability and decent form on soft ground to warrant a small each-way interest.
CLOTILDA – 1-point each-way@11-2
4.10 WETHERBY
ICARE ALLEN seems to have been around for ever, but he is only eight, and he certainly retains enough ability to go well in a race of this nature at a big price.
You only need cast your mind back just two runs ago to find his latest sterling effort when he kept on strongly to finish a creditable third in a similar quality race to the one he faces today and considering it was a trip probably short of his best, his effort deserved marking up.
Unseating rider at an early stage when a horse fell right in his path at Haydock last time out, hopefully his confidence hasn’t been too badly affected and based on some of his better figures he has achieved during his career, of which there has been quite a few over the years, he has a better chance of featuring than his odds suggest.
ICARE ALLEN – ½ point each-way@16-1