Catterick 5.20
By Flat Turf UK (The Advisor)
NORTHERN - Catterick 2.25 Amateur Jockey Handicap - Class 5 - 1 mile 4 furlongs - Good to Soft - 11 run
A competitive race of its type with a number of "hold up" horses who may be hostage to fortune and a selection of able and possibly less experienced and able jockeys.
It's hard to rule out many of these with the likes of A La Francaise (hold up horse), Let Her Loose highish mark), The Dancing Poet (winner of this last 2 years but out of form and not suited to cut in ground), Just Hiss (up in trip and relatively high mark), Jamil (hold up horse on quite a high mark) and Odd Venture (prominent runner and last to be discarded) all considered and seen as dangers.
The more i looked at the race though I got a "gut feel" and some strong analysis about a couple at nice Odds.
FEN TIGER won off marks of 51 and 54 last year and has taken a while to come down the handicap, it's back to 54 here. Those wins and some of its best form have been on ground with "soft" or "heavy" Going and it'll enjoy the cut in the ground here. It does run "choke out" but when primed on soft and a nice mark it can and has basically led from pillar to post. It just feels to me like the balls have fallen perfectly into line for that to happen here. My only niggle is that Fen Tiger and Odd Venture don't take each other on early in the race.
SAMEEM has a nice win off a mark of 55 earlier in the season, and has continued to run well off marks in the 60's , its dropped back to a mark of 60 and if the race is set up by the early pacesetters and they do come back to the field, this one looks the most likely of the hold up types to benefit in the conditions.
Tips (1) Fen Tiger / (2) Sameem