4th February 2012

Lingfield Betting: Fahey's Tarooq to land Blue Square's feature race at Lingfield

3.00 Lingfield: Bet At Blue Square Handicap (Class 3) (1m)

With the weather wiping out all of the jumps cards in the UK it’s a very different looking schedule this weekend on the racing front and the All Weather cards at Lingfield and Wolverhampton come to the rescue for punters up and down the country.

Channel 4 are now televising three races from Lingfield and the feature race is the Class 3 handicap sponsored by Blue Square, it’s a wide open contest and they bet 4/1 the field with Prince Of Burma heading the list.

We have ten runners in this 0-95 handicap and the joint top weights are Mr Willis and Lochantanks who are both rated 93. Mr Willis won here over C/D in December 2009 but has had 15 attempts since then without success and races here off a career high mark and doesn’t appeal to me. Lochantanks on the other hand has a lot going for him, after a string of consistent efforts he has now won three out of his last five races and ran well off this mark last time in a Class 2 contest, he should be thereabouts in this grade.

Prince Of Burma is on the upgrade after winning his last two races at Kempton and here, the fitting of blinkers seems to have done the trick and is now 13lbs higher than before he went on his improved run, he could well keep on improving but this is two grades higher than his last victory and has a wide draw so plenty of doubts for me about this one at the price. Richard Hannon runs Numeral, he’s also competing off a career high mark after two wins at Kempton and one here before Christmas, they were all over shorter trips and has had a two month break since then. Not sure the step up in trip will bring about the necessary improvement needed to land this tougher heat.

Richard Fahey sends down Tarooq from the north, he was second to Mull Of Killough here in that Class 2 race where Lockantanks was fourth, he’s a pound worse off at the weights but as the inside draw in stall one so should be handy from the off, he must have every chance of going one better today and is clearly an improving sort. One at the lower end of the handicap with a squeak is Tartan Triumph, he’s won here no less than five times and was once rated in the mid 90’s, he’s off just 80 today which puts him in with a live chance but doesn’t have a very good win ratio in recent times and is on a losing run of 12 at the moment but could nick a place at a fair price.

One more to look at in Amitola from the David Barron yard, he’s attempting the trip for the first time and has a good second to Numeral here over 7f in the book back in December and strictly on the weights has the beating of that horse today. He’s twice the price of the Hannon runner and could be a value each way bet in a tricky race.

Selections:

2pts Tarooq 5/1 William Hill

1pt EW Amitola 9/1 Bet365

» £25 Free Bet at Blue Square