Bet 3: 8.05 Salisbury Ragsta looks well handicapped for this nursery handicap, the third of the season, and could land the spoils for Richard Hannon, who also saddles Fleeting Echo. They bet 4/1 the field and the betting indicates this is a close affair, but I think Ragsta could be the one that has the most in hand on the handicapper judging by his 65 rating. He bumped into a very useful type in Radiohead on his Bath debut; Brian Meehan's Johannesburg colt won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes next time out, so although Ragsta was four lengths adrift of the winner, he was far from disgraced, especially since he himself put quite a bit of daylight between himself and the third. He was then upped to todays trip of 6f when appearing at Lingfield and finished a respectable fourth. The winner, Hairspray was narrowly beaten in a listed contest next time out whilst the second, Curtains, won a maiden and has then ran credibly in Group 3 and listed races when narrowly beaten in large fields. Ragsta was only a length or two behind those horses, which you would imagine would be rated at least 80+ now, so looks to be well handicapped running off a much lower mark for Richard Smith here. He won last time out in a seller and although its foolhardy to get carried away with seller form, the win at least proved he handles this trip and ground. 7/1 Bet
365, 1 pt win.