Our first bet on Monday runs in the opening race at Leicester (14:00) as we side with the George Baker-trained Hipz on her nursery debut. Having shaped well at Lingfield on her racecourse bow, finishing runner-up, Hipz returned to the same venue and put up an improved performance, beating a more experienced rival in a close finish. The winning margin was eventually narrow, but, in truth, Hipz looked in total control throughout the final furlong and could be considerably better than the bare form. Hipz enters handicaps off a lenient-looking opening mark and should improve for the step up to six furlongs; she has obvious claims.
A number of interesting juveniles clash in the novice stakes at 15:00 but the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Almuheet is taken to come out on top. Well backed on his racecourse debut at Newmarket, Almuheet justified market support in good style as he emphatically defeated a bunch of well-bred rivals, including the promising Red Galileo. The son of Dansili clearly knew his job as he travelled powerfully, was committed for home two furlongs out and, from that point, never looked in any danger. It was a visually impressive performance from an exciting prospect and, though the drop back to six furlongs registers as a slight concern, he can take this en route to better things.
We head to the all-weather at Kempton (16:20) for our final SmartPlay as we believe that the switch to polytrack and a less competitive race can see Rivellino return to the winners' enclosure. Rivellino was set some extremely tough tasks on turf during the summer, largely performing creditably despite things occasionally going against him in some big-field handicaps. This is the easiest task Rivellino has faced since comfortably winning by three and a half lengths at this venue in May and the return to a surface on which he is unbeaten, having won twice, is clearly not a negative.
Timeform UK SmartPlays:
Back Hipz @ 6.05/1 in the 14:00 at Leicester
Back Almuheet @ 3.39/4 in the 15:00 at Leicester
Back Rivellino @ 4.216/5 in the 16:20 at Kempton
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