2019 Pertemps Final Preview

The Pertemps Final is run over three miles and is a race for horses who have finished in the first six places in any of its qualifiers in England, Ireland and France.

After a baron run from 2008-2015 the Irish have captured this prize for the last three years and twelve months ago Gordon Elliott had a 1-2 with Delta Work and Glenloe.

Despite its competitive nature the recent winners have been from the front end of the market and race the punters seem to enjoy so it will be interesting to see who they latch onto this year.

All of the ante-post money seemed to be for the Gordon Elliott trained Sire De Berlais.

The 7yo has yet to win since coming over from France but his 4^th in the Conditional Jockeys race here last year was very promising and went into many notebooks for a big handicap at some time.

His last outing in the qualifier at Leopardstown was just what the doctored ordered, he was never in contention and ran on through beaten horses to pick up a qualifying spot on the run in.

It was a perfectly executed plan by jockey Davy Russell and it didn’t go unnoticed. Russell has rode the last three winners of this race and I don’t think he’d swap his mount for any other.

Finishing second in that qualifier at Leopardstown was Walk To Freedom trained by Jessica Harrington, the 9yo is relatively lightly raced for his age due to injuries but seems back to his best now.

He had won at Navan in November to show he was on his way back and then followed that with a good 4^th at the same venue in December.

The step up to 3 miles last time out seemed to suit well and a 3lb rise shouldn’t worry him too much.

The other placed horses from that most informative race were Cuneo who won it and Joseph O’Brien’s Thermistocles who was third. 

Both are entitled to go well here and the latter especially looks interesting and has been given a break since.

Another well backed runner is First Assignment trained by Ian Williams. The 6yo is much improved this season since stepping up in trip and his mark has risen 17lbs since this time last year.

First time out this term he won here at Cheltenham in a Class 3 handicap, he was very well backed that day.

He then stepped up to 3m for his next race and bolted up by 9 lengths from Boyhood and that earned him a tilt at a Grade 3 contest at Haydock.

Again he was made favourite but failed to deal with the highly progressive Paisley Park, that horse is now favourite for the Stayers Hurdle so lost nothing in defeat.

Last time out at Warwick he ran off his current mark and was a decent third to Keeper Hill over 3m1f. He was sent off favourite for the fourth consecutive race and could just be holding something back.

Philip Hobbs won this race with Fingal Bay in 2014 and has another decent chance this year with Samburu Shujaa who is on a hat-trick after two victories at Chepstow recently.

His last run was his first in a handicap and won with something to spare off  a mark of 129. He has been penalised 7lbs for that and I should think that was fair enough.

Chepstow form can be a bit tricky to weigh up so I suspect he will need to improve again to land this.

Aaron Lad is an interesting runner for trainer Dr Richard Newland, he started the season with a decent 6^th in a qualifier here at Cheltenham in October.

He was beaten 8 lengths that day by The Mighty Don but it took the pressure off with his ticket booked early on. He then needed to move up the handicap as at that time he was on 124 and unlikely to get in the Final.

Newland took the 8yo to Market Rasen for a weaker contest and it paid off when he won by a length and a half from Jersey Bean.

He went on to bag another victory in December when he beat Keeper Hill by three lengths over course and distance and now sits on a mark of 142. You just wonder if he has over done it and is a few pounds too high?

I quite like the look of Theclockisticking trained by Stuart Edmunds, he’s been novice chasing recently but I think that’s more to protect his hurdle mark than anything else as he no chase entries here at the Festival.

The 7yo qualified for this contest by finishing 4^th behind The Mighty Don here in October, that was his first run over this trip and seemed to get it well enough.

He is allowed to run off the same mark here and I think he has more scope over this distance.

In form trainer Emma Lavelle saddles Flemcara who bounced back to winning form last time out at Exeter.

He was out of luck in the early part of the season and we saw the first glimpses of his old self at Sandown in February when he was 3^rd behind Lord Napier in a decent contest.

He has been put up 4lbs for that recent success at Exeter but should go well now he is back on song.

Punters Lounge Tip: First Assignment EW 11/1 at Betfair - Click Here To Bet
 

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