Horse Racing Tips: Rhys Williams fancies ex-pointer on rules debut at Ayr

• Ran promisingly on point debut

• Not much depth in quality to this race

• St Olan's Well is overpriced at Ayr

Ayr - 12:10 - Back St Olan's Well

10

St Olan's Well (Ire)

• J: Patrick Wadge
• T: Lucinda Russell
• F:

The two horses that head the market have all run to a fair level over hurdles but it's one that I think one of the rules newcomers is capable of surpassing if building on a promising debut.

St Olan's Well made his debut at Boulta in November 2023 for Denis Ahern and ran well in defeat. He raced towards the back of the field on the first circuit before making some headway towards the end of the back straight. He came under driving after jumping three out and took a little while to pick up but he had moved into second jumping two out where he was slightly hampered. He looked quite green in the closing stages but kept going well to finish second behind Belliano.

The winner's only defeat in his career was against The New Lion while the third won next time beating a subsequent maiden hurdle winner and the fifth won a maiden next time.

Given that his inexperience showed at various stages, I thought this was an encouraging run from St Olan's Well and one that suggested he's capable of running to a level that would make him competitive in a race of this quality.

There is a concern that whatever kept him off the track last season might mean he's not as good as he showed that day and he may end up wanting a bit more of a test of stamina but I think the market is underestimating his chance and any 3/14.00 or bigger appeals.

Huntingdon - 13:20 - Back Slievegar

4

Slievegar

• J: Tom Bellamy
• T: Nigel Twiston-Davies
• F:

Slievegar makes his handicap and stable debut at Huntingdon and I think he has a good chance of showing that a mark of 108 underestimates his ability.

He took a big step forward when joining Phil Rowley for the 2022/23 season and ran very well in the Intermediate Final at Cheltenham when travelling all over his rivals before not seeing out the trip behind Quintin's Man. He ended that season with a comfortable victory at Kelso before leaving Rowley to go to the care of his rider.

Slievegar's form last season when trained by McCain-Mitchell and Max Comley didn't match the quality of his best the previous season but he managed to run respectably in defeat on a few occasions.

He now makes a positive trainer switch to Nigel Twiston-Davies and I think the combination of this trip and the drying ground should suit Slievegar and give him a chance to get back the level of ability he showed when with Rowley. Any 4/15.00 or bigger appeals.

Now read Alan Dudman's Thursday tips here.