Eleven picks across four meetings tonight, and only a couple of them are short enough to be called solid. The rest sit out at a price, which makes this an evening for the patient punter rather than the one chasing a quick banker. The weight of our reading falls on Carlisle, with Brighton and Salisbury filling in around it.
Carlisle is where we keep landing. Lumenbourg heads the card at the front end of the betting, and we like the angle. Julie Camacho has a strong record at the track, his Redcar third reads better than the bare placing once you note he was chasing home a next-time winner, and stall three over five furlongs is the spot you want. Later on the card, Mr Moonshine returns gelded after going down by a neck on his Thirsk nursery debut, a run we rate more than the result. The handicapper has eased him, his best figures are climbing, and the only real query is whether the slow ground blunts him. At the price we are happy to find out.
Brighton gives us a couple of get-out-of-trouble types. Tactical Plan is the one that jumps off the page. He drops into a 0-70 for the first time and on his best efforts our form work has him clear of these. Jack Callan goes well round Brighton from stall four, and the handicapper looks to have let him in light. Callan is busy on the night, also partnering Saeculamation, who steps out 2lb below his Chelmsford winning mark with three turf runs we rate above the placings, the latest a fourth from a poor draw at Lingfield.
Salisbury is the afternoon contribution, and Royal Poetry is the one our form work puts clear in her race. The weight is dropping the right way, her clock figures keep edging up, and this trip looks ideal for her. Draw a line through the Newmarket flop and she has this in her grasp. Southwell chips in with Alshadhian, our only runner there but one we are happy to back at two points each way.
Yesterday brought a frustrating shape. Five picks, no winner, but four of them placed, including Blufferonthebus, Acclaimed Freedom and Raulin. The money came back but the win we wanted stayed just out of reach.
So the search for a winner rolls into tonight, and Carlisle looks the likeliest place to find one.