Six meetings on a Wednesday and for once the afternoon feels like the warm-up. Doncaster and Sandown get us going, but the real weight of the day sits in the evening, where Yarmouth, Newbury and Southwell stack up thirteen picks between them.
Doncaster is our busiest afternoon stop with five going in, and Mariner in the 4.48 is the one we keep coming back to. His record at the track stands head and shoulders above these rivals, his times there stack up well, and he keeps slipping down the weights. Last time’s third points the right way, and stall six is no bad place to be starting from. Sandown gives us three more, with Nogo’s Dream opening the account in the 1.55, and Harmani carries our only interest at Leopardstown later on.
Then the evening arrives and Yarmouth is where we have gone in hardest. Five picks on the card, and Caviar Cowboy in the 6.14 is the pick of them. He towers over his three rivals and the clock says he is still improving. The fifth last time came with excuses, he won just three starts back, and James Fanshawe’s runners go well at this track. Gretna Dreams follows in the 7.24 having run her fastest race of late. She was blameless when brought down last time and drops back below the level she won at earlier this year, on ground and over a trip she knows well.
Newbury deserves a word too. Just An Hour in the 8.48 sets a standard the rest cannot match, running to a higher level than at any point in his current sequence and back quickly after a promising fourth twelve days ago. And if you want one at a price, Eightthreeone in the 7.05 is running faster than ever right now. The latest sixth was no true reflection of the effort, six furlongs on quick ground is exactly his setup, and double-figure odds look a gift.
Tuesday gave us plenty to smile about. Wetsand landed the headline blow at 8.0, Miss Moneypit followed him in at 3.25, and Hibernate and Apex Star both hit the frame. Two winners and two placers from five picks is the kind of day we will take every time.
Thirteen of today’s 22 are priced at 4/1 or shorter, so the confidence is genuine rather than scattered. If the evening goes the way the form suggests, Wednesday could be another one for the ledger.