The Betfred Mobile Heroes Handicap
Hurdle hasn’t been a source of generously priced winners in recent
years, but winners at 16/1 and 10/1 in the last three renewals give
some cause for encouragement. As usual, we’ve looked beyond the
market leaders to see if we can find two or three who could belie
their starting prices.
It’s frankly difficult to make a case
for Pay The King or Anteros, at any price, but Ben Case’s nicely
bred 7-year-old Mr Grey has only had four starts under Rules and
could still be open to significant improvement. A wide margin
point-to-point winner in the spring, he is blessed with an abundance
of stamina and has plenty of form on soft and heavy going. He steps
up in class off a 6lb higher mark, following his second at Wetherby
three weeks ago, so clearly needs to progress again, but that’s by
no means out of the question and 14/1 may underestimate his chance.
El Dancer is the oldest horse in the
race, but proved he is no back number when second, beaten just a
length, at Ludlow earliest this month, after the best part of two
years off. He, too, has stamina to burn and goes well under testing
conditions, so 2 miles 6 furlongs around Sandown on the prevailing
soft going should suit him admirably. The booking of Richard Johnson
offers cause for optimism and, at 14/1, he looks a shade overpriced.
Notwithstanding a fall on his latest
outing at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, Invicta Lake has run
creditably in defeat since winning over 3 miles 1½ furlongs at
Plumpton and may yet have more to offer. Suzy Smith’s 8-year-old
remains 7lb higher in the weights than when last winning, but is
another who should be staying on when a few of the more, ‘fragile’
shall we say, stayers have cried enough.
This year’s renewal of the Betfred
Mobile Heroes Handicap is particularly tricky; it’s difficult to
make a ‘watertight’ case for any single runner but, by the same
token, it’s difficult to rule out any one of them with any degree
of confidence. In any case, it’s our job to tilt at windmills, so
our three against the field this week are, in no particular order, Mr
Grey (14/1), El Dancer (14/1) and Invicta Lake (12/1). Good luck!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say
it again, if those three occupy the first three places, you may not
be hearing from us for a while!!
