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Monmore Open Betting: So many punting opportunities to be had...

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Darrell Williams runs through the pick of Monday afternoon's heats

The Festival meetings at Monmore have been a tremendous innovation and the format of four competitions each with three heats on a Monday followed by the finals the following Friday is spot on.

Now it's just a case of finding a few winners to make it just perfect! While I'm a big fan of the Festival format, if I do have one problem it's that with markets on each race and ante-post on each competition, sometimes you're enticed into getting involved in more wagers than you originally sought out to do. I know the sponsors would be delighted to hear that as it's the name of the game, but the frustration as a punter is that by either adding in more bets or watering down your original stakes, you often end up getting it right on the dogs you really fancied, but destroying a good chunk of any profit via those extra bets. We've all been there!

So here's a dozen wagers for this afternoon (!) - no not quite, but another decision is deciding how many wagers you want on today's heats as opposed to trying to 'nick' a bit of ante-post value for a possible trade off before the finals. I'm going for a bit of both, but it's also worth remembering that with only two qualifiers in all the heats, there's less room for any error with ante-post bets.

The three main stays of my betting today are Moyar Okee in the 416m competition, Highfield Hondo in the 480m and to a lesser degree Glittering Aries in the 630 event. Moyar Okee is undoubtedly the most interesting at the prices, and while his strike rate is far from special (2-17 at Monmore) I think he's drawn to run his race in the 3.28 heat with likely middle mover and Arc flop Seanis Strike on his immediate outside.

The rails draw has been a good one at Monmore recently, and with an inside draw always a bonus over 416m anyway given the short run to the bend I'm hoping Pat Rosney's runner can exploit his pitch. He's certainly got enough early speed and his best 480m form should hold him in good steed. I'm backing him both today and (small) ante post.

Highfield Hondo can complete a double for former local handler Rosney in the 3.48 race, the first heat of the 480m competition. His unblemished 6/6 record at Monmore immediately caught my eye while his last place in the Gorton Cup can easily be ignored after he found all the trouble going. A faster break should soon put him in the mix and again he's worth backing both for this race and outright.

I'm also having a little on Glittering Aries in the 4.47 race over 630m who has plenty of good performances over CD including a brace of fast times last September. While Aero Blackjack will have his supporters after his Walthamstow win (for this column!), I'd be happy to take him on today given both a lack of local knowledge and the fact he now has to take on older dogs- in fact a lay now/back later policy should yield rewards given his likely negativity in the market.

For those looking for a few more ideas! I think Holyromanemperor looks too short in the 4.08, Meenala Cruiser is a small lay in the 3.07, while Monsoon Jack is a lay now/back later (should drift) in the 5.07. Oh, but I was only going to have a few wagers!