Cheek Pieces

Monday 25th April

No bet advised

Tuesday 25th April

Tony Carroll is the leading trainer at the East Sussex track and Kondratiev Wave (2:20) catches the eye after a decent second at Windsor last time out. The Dragon Pulse gelding is 4lbs below his last winning mark (18lbs below his peak rating), he has yet to win at seven furlongs but has won at six so that shouldn’t be an issue. This is his course debut, but he goes well at Lingfield and should act here:

Brighton 2:20 – KONDRATIEV WAVE – 1 point win @ 5/2 (several firms)

At Yarmouth, Special Mayson (2:40) has a great chance of returning to winning ways after finishing fourth on seasonal debut at Catterick. Pam Sly’s gelding progressed nicely in the autumn with two wins. He caught the eye on his return to action, noted travelling well before a combination of a lack of fitness and racing up with the pace took its toll. Special Mayson certainly left the impression that he can win off his current mark. The last time he raced over six furlongs he was fourth in race where the first two are now rated in the 80’s. Main market rival, Lilkian, yet to convince that he is as effective on turf as he is on AW:

Yarmouth 2:40 – SPECIAL MAYSON – 1 point win @ 9/4 (Power & Sportsbook)

In the feature race, a mile handicap, Bake (3:48) stands out as the most likely winner. He won twice last season, including first time out, and is 2lbs higher than for the second of those, a mile at Doncaster as part of the Racing League series. That was a much stronger race than this. My only concern is that, although he won on good-to-firm at Yarmouth last season, he was subsequently scratched twice under similar circumstances.

Wednesday 27th April

Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup (5:55)

Although some of the Punchestown races have cut-up to a handful of runners, it’s a good field declared for the Gold Cup on Wednesday (5:55) and intriguing that Allaho has been declared. The facile winner of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham for the second successive year is returning to three miles for the first time since finishing fourth in the 2020 Savills Chase. His record over three miles is creditable but certainly lacks the invincibility of his form over intermediate trips. Gold Cup runner-up Minella Indo is taking him on and is ahead 2-1 on hurdles form between the pair, and 1-0 over fences having finished one length ahead of Allaho in the RSA Insurance Novices' Chase two years ago, when both placed behind Champ. The pair took each other on a long way out that day and set the race up for Champ. British challenger Clan Des Obeaux returns to defend his crown, and I see no reason why Al Boum Photo, Fakir D'oudairies or Kemboy should reverse the form. A bigger danger to the front three in the betting could be Tornado Flyer if he can cut out the jumping errors of his Gold Cup performance. I think the value is an each-way bet on Minella Indo, Sky Bet are 9/2 to four places:

Punchestown 5:55 – MINELLA INDO – ½ point each-way @ 9/2 (Generally; Sky Bet are 4 places)

Any further updates for Wednesday will be sent on Wednesday morning