Rhys Williams' Monday Racing Tips: Rayong to bounce back after wind op

Circumstances give him a good chance to show his best

Windsor 19:15: Rayong 1pt win 7/1

Clarendon House is a short-priced favourite for this five-furlong sprint after winning both starts with ease but the ground at Windsor will be by far the softest he's raced on and his action hardly suggests that he's crying out for soft ground so I think he's one to take on.

Rayong never quite fulfilled the potential he showed early in his career and his performances this year haven't been overly encouraging but I think he's capable of bouncing back this evening on his first start after a wind op.

He ended the 2020 turf season with a couple of respectable runs in testing ground when sixth at Catterick off 97 and fifth behind wide-margin winner Venturous at Doncaster off 95.

He made his seasonal debut this year over five furlongs at Wolverhampton but he ended up in position Z in a slowly run, small field race in being held up, keen and off the rail. Unsurprisingly, he performed poorly and finished last.

He was well beaten next time too at York when drifting left under pressure and gradually dropped away from 1½ furlong out.

Rayong wore a tongue tie for the first time on his latest start at Catterick, which suggested that they may have been concerned about his wind after the run at York. He lacked early speed and was being shaken along from a fairly early stage but, unlike at York, kept battling on to be beaten four lengths.

Since then he's had a wind op and that may be the catalyst for him to bounce back to a better level of form. He should have at least a fairly good pace to track and, unlike some of his rivals, he's shown that he can handle soft ground equally as well as better ground.

It's also likely that the field will go to the far side since it's soft ground and that could help Rayong as he's shown a tendency to edge left under pressure so having a rail either immediately or very close to his left will help.

It may turn out that he's simply on the decline and there's another issue rather than his wind that's causing that but these circumstances give Rayong a good chance to bounce back and any 6/1 or bigger appeals.