3 minute read
Sam King brings you two selections on Monday, including a horse who could be set for improvement on her nursery debut…
Make Love – Wolverhampton 7.00
We head to Wolverhampton for our first selection and it's the James Horton-trained Make Love who catches the eye on her nursery debut. The Lark Lodge stables handler has an impressive 36% strike rate with his runners at Wolverhampton and Make Love could well add to that already striking tally.
The daughter of Make Believe attracted some market support before finishing seventh on debut in what looked like a warm Doncaster maiden event. The runner-up Arabian Dusk has gone on to collect Group 2 honours, while two other horses have come out to win subsequently.
She was again well backed to oblige at Lingfield second-time-out, but went down narrowly late on after being reeled in by Anshoda. However, that form looks all the better now with the winner going on to finish second in Listed company at Sandown and Dave Loughnane's filly now has a rating of 98.
James Horton's charge once again shaped with significant promise when a keeping-on fourth at Newmarket last time. She suffered some traffic in running on that occasion and would likely have finished closer with a clear run.
The switch to the AW for this nursery debut should pose no problems and an opening mark of 73 will almost certainly be within range. Adam Farragher gets on board for the first time and may well opt to dictate matters from stall one.
Odds – 7/2
Heads turn to Kempton for our second selection, and it could pay to side with Gary and Josh Moore's unexposed Give It To Me Oj. The Omar Jackson-owned gelded son of Time Test showed up well in three deep maidens, including when finishing just sixth lengths behind the now 106-rated Prague at Sandown on his second outing.
He shaped with plenty of promise when fourth off a mark of 80 on his handicap debut at Glorious Goodwood, doing all of the donkey work up front under Hector Crouch before being passed late on.
Positive tactics could be enforced once more from stall one, with the application of first-time cheekpieces also a really interesting addition. He hasn't looked all that straightforward under pressure thus far, but it wouldn't be at all surprising were the fitting of headgear to change things here.
The return to this course and distance will be of no problem given he ran well when fourth over it two starts ago and with Hector Crouch riding at the top of his game (9-34 – 26% last 14 days), this unexposed three-year-old looks worth siding with at general odds of around 9/2.
Odds – 9/2
