A dark horse at Hamilton on Friday night....

Thursday, 25th August 2022

A dark horse at Hamilton on Friday night….

Way too many races are breaking down into unattractive small-field affairs….

We all know what the problems are. The dry summer has played a part but the bigger picture is too much racing + too little prize money + not enough horses to fill a bloated roster….

It all affects the levy – which helps fund the sport. 6-runner races aren’t attractive to punters – and the upshot of persistent small fields is reduced betting revenue for bookies. That reduces the levy (paid on the basis of bookie profits) and even worse prize funds are the result. It’s a vicious circle….

I ain’t no politician. I don’t know how racing’s powers should go about turning things around. All I know is that finding solutions and implementing them won’t  happen overnight….

My plan is to adapt and make the best of what’s good. I intend to target decent bigger field handicaps – whenever and wherever they come along….

I’ve spent the last couple of days reviewing a stack of Irish races, analysing Irish form lines, and studying the profile of Irish horses – because I’m targeting Saturday’s Irish Cambridgeshire at the Curragh….

There’s another decent target race tomorrow night at Hamilton over the 12f trip – the C2 Silver Bell Handicap (6.53). The winner waltzes off with £50k+ and 15 turn out to do battle – so why not?

• In the Silver Bell….

Right now only William Hill are up with a market for tomorrow night’s race at Hamilton – but it tells us where or whereabouts the other firms are going to be as and when they pull their collective finger out….

Dark Jedi is 5th on the list at 9s. He’s in a good streak of form right now – producing a three-figure RPR in each of his last four runs and placing behind Farhan in the open 12f handicap at York last week….

He gets to run off the same mark of 98 tomorrow. That’s 4lb in advance of his last (and his highest winning mark) but this isn’t such a deep assignment as that last race – and we know he handles the track and won’t mind the softer ground….

I reckon I might have backed him had he not been drawn widest of all in stall 15. But he is drawn there and overall I prefer the chances of the Iain Jardine trained HAVEYOUMISSEDME at the 11s – running from stall 4….

The 4yo’s been running up against some decent horses this term. He was 2nd to Zoffee in the Northumberland Vase off 84 and levels. That one is now rated 93 after a sequence of subsequent solid efforts. Last time at that same track in July Jardine’s horse was beaten by Pride of Priory and Thundering….

Pride Of Priory is a William Haggas horse (note: Haggas has a fine strike rate from limited participants at Hamilton) who reopposes tomorrow on 11lbs worse terms and Thundering found only Farhan too good last week in that big race at York….

The bottom line observation is that Haveyoumissedme looks well-handicapped on his mark of 86 and tomorrow is a good opportunity for him on soft ground that he will very much appreciate….

This race is one the Jardine team like to target – winning it with Sepal in 2017 and also placing with Jabbaar and Nakeeta in recent years – and I’m not going to let the yard’s quiet fortnight put me off backing him….

The 11s is bigger than I anticipated. I’d take 10s and 9s too. But if there’s better than 11s available when the other firms go up later on – that would be healthy bonus….

Each-way backers take note: William Hill are 1/5 the first 4. Perhaps Sky Bet are the one outfit that might offer the 5th place as and when they go live with their prices….

• The final word….

That’s all for today. Back tomorrow….

Meanwhile – enjoy the racing. It’s not life and death – it’s a game we play for fun. It’s good sometimes to remind ourselves of that fact….

Stay tuned.

Against the Crowd