3 minute read
Sam King tipped Wimbledon Hawkeye (4/1) to win the Group 2 Royal Lodge at Newmarket on Saturday and returns with two selections for Monday evening…
With both Windsor and Newton Abbott abandoned due to heavy rain and varying forecasts across the country, it looks worth concentrating on Wolverhampton, the sole all-weather meeting in the UK today.
4.15 Wolverhampton - Love Rocks
The opening five-furlong nursery looks like a fairly wide-open affair, and it could pay to take a chance on the handicap newcomer Love Rocks.
Ismail Mohammed's Kodiac filly has shown plenty of speed in her three qualifying runs to date but ultimately has found herself outclassed in some decent novice/maiden contests.
She was upsides the eventual winner Blue Zodiac, who is now rated 89, for three and a half furlongs before fading into eighth at Beverley earlier in the month and given that run was her first outing since June, it's highly likely she'll come on for the run in terms of fitness.
Stall one looks a definite positive given how nicely away she was at Beverley and at a track where front-runners can be tough to peg back, she could prove a touch of value at general odds of 9/1.
Odds – 9/1
We skip straight to the finale for a second selection. Stall twelve poses some question marks for Inspiring Speeches, but he has plenty more going for him compared to some of his rivals and I suspect Connor Beasley will look to be prominent from his wide starting position.
The Michael Dods-trained three-year-old remains very much unexposed over trips of around a mile and arrives on the back of an excellent second off this mark at Beverley six days ago. His sole outing on the all-weather came back in November last year and while it was a slightly disappointing effort, there's no reason to believe he will not handle it looking at pedigree.
He's certainly shown better form since being gelded in June and off what is surely an operatable rating of 56, this son of Churchill is selected to get off the mark at the thirteenth attempt.
Odds – 15/8
