Horse Racing Previews
Course And Distance Winner Set To Strike Again
Drop In Class To Keep Morris Mount Down To Earth
Upper Lambourn trainer Sylvester Kirk runs his five-year-old GRAVITY WAVE in the extended mile and a half Betway Classified Claiming Stakes this afternoon and after competing in Class 4 and 5 handicaps in the last two years will benefit from the drop in competition to claiming class. He has raced 10 times on the all-weather and three of these have been here at Wolverhampton, where his figures read 1, 3 and 1. The son of Rip Van Winkle goes off a mark of 69 today, his lowest rating since winning at the course last May and a pound down on when beaten 10 lengths by Unit Of Assessment a couple of weeks ago. BRIGADOON, YOUR BAND and PIKE CORNER CROSS are best rated on BTOPlus+, are in the top four in the betting and are fairly consistent, but carry a good few negatives between them. Brigadoon, for example, has a trainer/ jockey combination that hasn't had a winner at the course from 17 attempts, whilst the progeny of Your Band's sire, Helmet, have a poor record at the course and at the distance. Gravity Wave, ridden by Luke Morris, on the other hand has seven positives and no negatives and the widely offered 7/2 looks reasonable.
G Lees
Gerard Lees