Six meetings to get stuck into today, running from afternoon turf at Gowran Park and Newbury through to floodlit cards at Windsor and Wolverhampton. It is a day that rewards patience. The short prices are honest enough, but most of the value sits a little further down the market, and there is plenty of it once you start digging.
Wolverhampton gives us the horse we keep coming back to. Reputation is 13 now and showing no sign of slowing down. He won over course and distance here back in November, then came back fresh and landed a seven-furlong race at Southwell last month. He goes up just 4lb for that, and the form behind it reads better than the bare result. At a big price he makes plenty of appeal. The same card has Romantic Spirit heading the 6:30 for us, with Havana Sky later on the night the kind of each-way runner worth a small interest.
The Irish action at Gowran Park is where two of our better fancied longer ones live. Roaming Coyote drops into handicap company for the first time off a mark of 57, and there is more to the form than the bare figures suggest. A low draw in stall one over the mile and a furlong is a help, and the yard knows how to win round here. Later, Amrum steps up from maiden grade after looking better than ever at Down Royal on Friday. The quick reappearance counts for plenty, he is a half-brother to a Classic winner, and he is drawn well for a stable in good heart.
Down at Lingfield, Rogue Dynasty is one we are happy to side with. She got off the mark on her stable debut over this trip last summer and has run with credit since, the one blip coming on soft ground she did not want. She looked ready to step forward on her reappearance in March, and conditions are firmly in her favour now. Over at Windsor, Moon Over The Sea won over course and distance last month and has not stopped running well, sitting just 4lb higher and drawn perfectly in stall two.
Yesterday was a tidy one. Tim Toe obliged at 10s and Letsbefrank filled a place at 5.5, so the longer-priced approach paid its way again.
It is a card built for the ones who like to spread their interest across the day rather than load up on a single race. We will be doing exactly that.