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Handicap Hurdle (7.50) at Southwell on Wednesday, Band Of Thunder
proved a revelation on his first start for Mark Tompkins at Plumpton
ten days ago and seems sure to be popular under a 7lb penalty.
However, the six-year-old hasn’t stood much racing in recent
seasons and may not be especially robust.
The handicapper may also have caught up
with Follow The Tracks, who remains 18lb higher in the weights than
when winning comfortably at Taunton three starts ago and appeared to
be beaten fair and square at Fontwell last time, so a ‘surprise’
result doesn’t look entirely out of the question.
That said, there’s plenty of ‘dead
wood’ in the race, so finding a likely winner from beyond the front
pair in the market is no easy task, either. Storm To Pass
(14/1) ran a promising race on his first start for nearly a year, in
a better race than this, at Fakenham last April and was far from
disgraced over a seemingly inadequate 2 miles 3½ furlongs at
Towcester last May on his only subsequent start.
The Overbury gelding has another
lengthy absence to overcome and has his stamina to prove
conclusively, but he’s only 2lb higher than his last winning mark
and has the services of talented conditional jockey Bridget Andrews,
so he could be the solution in a race that may not take as much
winning as the numbers suggest.
Selection: Southwell 7.50 Storm To
Pass to win