Bets of the Day: Pikarnia can win at the first time of asking in handicap company

Alan Thompson
17 January 2017

Pikarnia can make his mark in handicap company.

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Both of Alan's selections won yesterday and he is looking to keep the winning streak going with two more today from Ayr an Kempton...

"Rebecca Menzies and Brian Hughes have an impressive strike rate at Ayr."

Back Pikarnia @ 9/2 in the 16:00 Ayr

16:00 Ayr - Back Pikarnia @ 9/2

Rebecca Menzies is in good form at the minute and when she teams up with Brian Hughes they have a 31.25% strike rate at Ayr. Both trainer and jockey have a good chance to improve on those impressive stats in this race with Pikarnia. He makes his handicap debut today after being well beaten on his two outings in Class 4 Novice Hurdles but he was returning from a lengthy 203 day break and he will have learned plenty from those runs. He takes a slight drop in class today, has the tongue tie fitted for the first time and I think his opening rating of 100 gives him a good opportunity in this company.

Suprise Vendor and Canovaare ahead of the selection in the betting market (at the time of writing) but Suprise Vendor is an 11-year-old who has been less than impressive this season, and his latest fifth at Newcastle didn't impress especially as he was sent off favourite. Canova has had 20 starts, 10 of which have been over hurdles and he is still to get his head in front, he looks far from progressive and I think would much prefer better ground, in these heavy conditions I am happy to take him on.

16:40 Kempton - Back Tred Softly @ 7/4

This won't take much winning and it's difficult to look beyond John Quinn's charge Tred Softly who has to carry a 6lb penalty for his short distance (head) win last time out, however, he got stuck a bit in the middle part of the race which allowed the second and third placed horses to get first run on him. However, when he got daylight in the straight he ran on strongly to get up on the post. With a clear run I have no doubt he would have won by a much bigger margin and the penalty may not be enough to stop him going in again today.

I would expect him to kick on from this initial win and go onto compete in better quality than this, not just on the all weather but on the turf as well. His pedigree (out of Yates) would suggest that he should continue improving. He won't need much of an improvement to beat these and even just a reproduction of that last run should see him get home first.

Recommended Bets:

Back Pikarnia @ 9/2 in the 16:00 Ayr
Back Tred Softly @ 7/4 in the 16:40 Kempton