Horse Racing Tips: Rhys Williams' NAP is an outsider at Stratford

Drop in trip and better ground to suit

Stratford 14:55: Al Roc 1pt win 18/1

Having initially been given a ridiculous rating when he first came over from France, Al Roc's rating has been on the slide since and he turns up here off 115. While most of his performances haven't offered much encouragement, I thought he showed enough at Plumpton two starts ago to suggest he's capable of running well off this mark.

That race was over 3m1½f and after initially being held up, he gradually made headway to be just behind the leaders turning down the back for the final time. He jumped into second at 3 out and came under pressure to go off in chase of Innisfree Lad. However, that rival pulled clear turning the final bend as Al Roc started to wilt and he faded to be beaten twenty lengths.

He was dropped another 5lb for that run and was well beaten on his latest start at Chepstow but he was held up in a race that was dominated by those that raced prominently and I think the ground would have been softer than ideal.

Any further drying out of the ground today will suit Al Roc and I think the drop back in trip will be to his liking too.

He wasn't straightforward when racing in France and has shown signs of that over here so it might be that he needs the reapplication of headgear in the future to bounce back but I think he's overpriced in a race of this quality and any 16/1 or bigger appeals.