Six meetings to pick through tonight and the spread is wide. Brighton and Salisbury carry the afternoon, the two Welsh and Scottish evening cards give us our better-priced fancies, and there is one short one at Stratford we are happy to lean on. Plenty to like across the board, so let us walk it through.
The thread that runs through today is headgear. A few of our fancies get first-time cheekpieces and the timing looks right on each of them. That is usually a yard telling you it thinks there is more to come, and when the bare form already stacks up, it is the sort of small change that tips a race your way.
Start with Stratford, where Tellherthename heads the staking at the short end. We have gone in heaviest here, and a horse like this is the spine of the day rather than the one that pays for the holiday. Around it, the evening cards are where the value sits.
Tonal at Ffos Las is one we keep coming back to. He drops to a level he has already won off, his clock times are on the way up, and he is twice a winner in his last five. We forgive that flat Yarmouth run, the first-time cheekpieces go on, and he has a rider who knows how to get home at the track. Over at Salisbury, King Of Stars ran a sharper race at Bath than seven lengths beaten makes it look, and that form has held up since. The cheekpieces should sharpen him further, and bowling along in front over a flat five he gets to call the tune.
Stick with Ffos Las for Forever Glamorous, who clocked his quickest time only recently and shaped better than the result. He is consistent over five and six on ground he handles, the yard is in form, and he gets the same headgear tweak off a kinder mark. Three horses, three reasons to think there is improvement waiting to come out.
Elsewhere there is plenty to keep an eye on, with a couple of bigger-priced each-way darts at Musselburgh for those who like a longer shot to chase.
Yesterday gave us a double to bank. Aim For The Bull and Ideal Guest both obliged, with a couple more filling places, so the ship is steady going into tonight. We would rather build on days like that than chase them, and today’s card gives us the picks to do it.