Pricewise for the Ladbroke!

What a fantastic race we have to look forward to on Saturday in the Ladbroke! Whilst many cards are being cancelled across the country due to appalling weather conditions, the heavy ground doesn’t look like being too much of an inconvenience to many of this 21 strong field and it looks a very hot renewal.

 

With so many unexposed horses it looks a minefield to try and pick the winner from, and you couldn’t be put off fancying any of about 15 of them! One I do feel could be overpriced is David Pipe’s 4yo Kazlian who surprised connections when beaten on his stable debut, but made amends next time out when winning by 50 lengths in heavy ground (a valuable asset given Saturday’s conditions). He followed up with another victory 3 weeks later in soft ground and was massively fancied by the Pond House team in the build up to the Cheltenham Festival in March. Pipe stated in his stable tour that the way the race panned out didn’t suit his charge as “he was wide at the start and raced too keen”, which makes sense as he tracked the leader early on; took it up after the 3^rd; and was still 8 lengths clear approaching 3 from home. Ridden as they approached the last, he was overtaken as the eventual first 3 home kicked on and Kazlian may have been slightly done for toe on the better ground (given his affinity for soft and heavy ground). Though I’m not sure how highly I rate the form of this race in general, the winner has looked smart in winning twice since, and in much softer conditions Kazlian could well have plenty more to come as an unexposed 4yo. He was ridden differently at Aintree on his final start last season so I’d be inclined to draw a line through that run, as I would regarding his reappearance in the RP Hurdle this season as he has come on a lot for his first run a couple of times so hopefully that has dusted off the cobwebs and he can resume progress here. As said, it is not a race I feel is worth getting too caught up in as it’s hugely competitive, but at 20/1 and allotted a racing weight of 10st 6lb (which is likely to be of great benefit in the stamina sapping conditions) he looks a nice each way proposition for a vested interest in the race.

 

There are plenty with big chances on paper, but a couple of others who could run well at more favourable prices are Rigidity and Thomas Edison, both of whom are also 20/1 for the contest. Rigidity has looked out of sorts recently but is down to the same mark of 133 off which he finished half a length 2^nd to Raya Star in the same race this time last season and is also proven in soft/heavy ground so could be another each way alternative off an also favourable racing weight of 10st 4lb. Thomas Edison is owned by JP McManus who loves to have runners in the big races, and this one could turn out to be on a workable mark off 132 as his bumper victory over Champagne Fever looks very smart. He has coped with fairly testing conditions in the past, and although not making much of a mark in his 3 handicap runs to date (his saddle slipped in the first), it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see him find some improvement for a race of this nature. He wasn’t put in the race at all on the middle handicap run, before staying on well, and was held up again in the most recent run and travelled well but was unable to reel in the winner who was in receipt of 20lb. 7 out of the past 9 winners of this race have been held up so his style of racing could be of benefit and at 20/1 he is 1 of 3 that I can see running better than that price would suggest (may even perm the forecast/tricast to a very small stake).