Thursday 28th October

 

I looked at all of these and frankly it's hard to make a compelling case for all but one of them and the more that you look at the back-form and profile of RENWICK the more compelling the case for a small each way punt becomes.

 

It has won off breaks of 197 and 114 day breaks in the past so 142 days here should not be a negative. It's had a wind operation 3-4 months ago so plenty of time to recover and to be fit enough after it and it's the second wind operation the horse has had and hey presto, it won the first race back after the first wind operation.

 

Phillip Hobbs should have the horse plenty fit enough, if the operation has helped the horse is on a very nice mark and nothing that's fit nor nothing that's fresh has anything like such clear evidential form.

 

 

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The one I think they all have to beat is the Nicholls trained TAKE YOUR TIME. The horse steps up to 3 miles but with a 3 mile P2P win in it's locker and promise at shorter under Rules worth a win saver if that floats your boat.

 

The ones I see as bigger dangers are all actually Chasers. 

 

Prime Venture will surely be targeted at The Welsh and some Regional Nationals but did win on seasonal debut last year in a small Chase and has a course win in 2017 over hurdles at the trip so not inconceivable it could run a place at big odds.

 

Captain Drake is a similar horse in terms of Chase potential who also won first time out in 2020 over hurdles off a mark of 137. It's had a wind operation and looks a real danger for Nick Skelton

 

Acey Milan is more of a dual purpose horse who has not taken to fences and won fresh also last season off 260 days and was runner up off 186 days in 2019 too and is on a competitive Hurdles mark.

 

I'd certainly fancy a small each way investment in a couple of those and it's tough to choose but on balance of Hurdles form ACEY MILAN and CAPTAIN DRAKE look worth a small flutter and I will personally have a win saver on Take Your Time and play the Tricast.