There are six race meetings in the UK and Ireland on Wednesday. Two of the afternoon ones, from Catterick and Lingfield, and Fairyhouse’s evening card play host to the four runners in our 10,825/1 Lucky 15 top tips.
Golden Gal (2.50 Catterick)
Though Woodlands Charm has won more recently, it is the other course and distance winner, GOLDEN GAL who is selected as our opening Lucky 15 pick.
Ollie Pears’ filly has greatly improved this year. Her only respectable run at two, ironically, came when second to Woodlands Charm here off a lowly mark of 45, in receipt of 13lb. Though she only gets 10lb today, her change in fortunes suggests that form is distinctly reversible.
For one, she has earned her first two career successes, the first of which came over course and distance. Since then, she has won again over 5f at Wolverhampton, while a simple contrast in form figures is enough to demonstrate the discrepancy: in 2021 – 904920, in 2022 – 1312523
Those last two runs have been off this mark of 59, one of which was over 5f at this venue. The return to 6f should be of benefit to her and she could easily surpass her best efforts returned to these seemingly ideal conditions.
The Defiant (3.00 Lingfield)
The majority of this field have won over track and trip, but it could be worth plumping for the rank outsider of the entire field in THE DEFIANT.
West Sussex trainer Daniel Steele’s is a very small operation, that has been in use on and off since 2016 and this horse has been responsible for taking him within one of his all-time best tally for an individual year. For The Defiant racked up a hat-trick in May at this track and Kempton, going up 11lb in the ratings.
He had won all three by bursting out from the front, but that tactic finally failed at the fourth attempt when he was only fourth of five in April. However, he was reported to have scoped dirty that day, while he was then a good second at Windsor returned to turf.
He was unable to dominate last time out, again at Windsor, but though there are a few front-runners here, if he can rediscover his initial burst from stall seven, he could take some pegging back. His mark may still be defiable.
Campese (3.50 Catterick)
Moonlit Warrior’s gallant, albeit distant, second to the hugely progressive Mostly Cloudy entitles him to respect off only 2lb higher. However, an unexposed stayer awaits him here.
Charlie & Mark Johnston’s runners so often improve for tests of extreme stamina and CAMPESE could easily be another of those. His only win came when having to battle on from the front at Bath over 1m 3½f, but it would be no surprise if he were to prefer even further.
Prior to that, he had shown very little at two, but was at least competitive on his handicap debut at Brighton. However, as so many a Johnston horse has in the past, going from the front saw him improve and he earned that victory before rising steeply in class at Musselburgh.
He never got involved from out the back in that race, but is dropped in class while you would imagine he will surely go from the front once again here. If he does, this trip could play to his strengths, not only due to his handlers, but also as a son of Australia.
It Might Be You (6.25 Fairyhouse)
IT MIGHT BE YOU could easily be in amongst this off a career-low mark. The daughter of El Kabeir’s declined mark suggests each-way propositions could be strong.
She was placed in maiden company early on last season, while she also made the frame on her handicap debut off 67. That was over 5f and she struggled to maintain her form to the end of the season, but there have been signs of improvement since then. She may well have matured between two and three.
She has raced in double-figure fields in ten of her 14 races, so winning has certainly been made trickier by Michael Mulvany’s more ambitious campaigning of her. However, a trio of fourth-placed efforts in competitive races in the last month have not halted the slide in her rating.
She now competes off a mark of 60. With the maiden she ran in at Bellewstown last week of a decent standard, a replication of that effort would leave her in with an excellent each-way chance at what could be a tasty price.