Chepstow Thursday 10th August
It’s the return of the Racing League at Chepstow on Thursday evening with a 7-race card that gets underway at 5:30. The action will be shown live on ITV4 and Sky Sports Racing and our team have looked through the card and found 3 selections for you.
6:00 William Hill Extra Places Daily Racing League Nursery Handicap
Bet Here
CHINESE KNOT
As with any Nursery handicap there are several runners who are open to any amount of improvement, but with soft ground forecast we prefer to look for horses with confirmed form and experience in the book. Top of that list must be the Rod Millman trained Chinese Knot. She was only 5-lengths behind subsequent super sprint winner Relief Rally on her second start at Salisbury, which made her look very well treated on an opening mark of 72 for her handicap debut at Windsor last month. She was given too much to do from the rear on that occasion, but still ran a solid race to finish 2nd and she made no mistake on her next outing when getting the better of Midnight Lir in a Nursery at York 2-weeks ago. Both of those efforts came on ground that was the softer side of good and her action and breeding suggest that she should handle the slightly deeper conditions at Chepstow. A 5lb rise for the York win seems perfectly fair and she should remain competitive on these terms. Saffie Osborne retains the ride after guiding her to victory at York and from stall 1, she should be able to get into a handy position whilst also steering clear of any trouble, which should leave her ideally placed to take advantage of what looks to be a workable mark.
7:00 William Hill Pick Your Places Racing League Handicap
GORDON GREY
Saffie Osborne is also aboard our second selection, the Ian Williams trained Gordon Grey. He didn’t make much of an impression in 3 runs in Novice company for the yard, but he produced a much better performance when he returned from a short break to make his handicap debut at Newmarket last month. Having raced in second, he took up the lead at the 3-furlong pole and although he was headed in the closing stages by the winner, he kept on holding 2nd place and finish over 2-lengths clear of the rest. The winner, third and fourth from that race have all won this season to suggest that this was a strong piece of form for the grade and a 3lb rise from the handicapper seems perfectly fair. He is a half-brother to 6 winners, including 3 pattern class performers and is certainly bred to be better than a mark of 74. Twice withdrawn because the ground was too quick, any further rain should suit him, and he may well prove to have too much in hand over his more exposed rivals.
8:00 William Hill Epic Boost Racing League Handicap
JUST GLAMOROUS
Our final selection comes in the sixth race at 8:00 and with relatively little recent form to get excited about we will take a chance on the old time Just Glamorous. He has been an admirable servant for his connections, winning 10 of his 69 starts and over £130,000 in prize money. He took advantage of a sliding mark to win at Salisbury in June and is best forgiven his latest effort when 4th at Sandown as he did too much in the early stages and wasn’t able to sustain his effort in the closing stages. He is still well treated on his old form and although he has never won at Chepstow, he has hit the frame in 4 of his 5 starts at the Welsh track. With soft ground a definite advantage for him, he should get his own way in front and may prove hard to catch in what looks to be a weak race.
