Off to a good start in April: Emperor Spirit (11/1, SP 10/1) won his Lingfield race that surprisingly went nearly exactly as outlined beforehand and provided the second winner for the month.
Even though, I must admit, halfway through the race I felt he went too hard from the front. Turns out Jamie Spencer judged it to perfection as Emperor Spirit held on (for dear life) but had enough left in the tank to get home.
Only ten minutes later a bit of a downer: Reach was a major disappointment. She fell away quickly in the closing stages and never looked like winning. I fancied her a lot, and am prepared to give her one more chance.
…….
5.30 Wolverhampton: Class 6 Handicap, 1m 6f
Inchbae was denied by the late charging Jenny Renn last month at this track, although over the two furlongs shorter 1m 4f distance. These two meet again here in this Handicap for Amateur riders and seem to be the horses to focus on.
The step up in trip swings it toward Inchbae for me, who should appreciate the extra distance. There is plenty of stamina in her pedigree and she’s one you’d hope she can improve with age and experience.
Still a maiden, but she showed promise toward the end of last season, especially when runner-up at Chelmsford over 10 furlongs off 54. She changed yards afterwards and didn’t run as bad as the pure form suggests on stable debut at Dundalk.
She improved dramatically for that outing next time at Wolverhampton. obviously a tricky sort, she didn’t see the late effort from Jenny Renn coming on the outside from back of the field there and didn’t have time to respond, I believe.
This 1m 6f contest looks an even poorer race, with very few proper dangers. The #13 isn’t ideal on paper but unlikely to pose issues. There isn’t much pace here, so I’d expect her to move across quickly to establish potentially a soft lead.
She may have enough speed to bring it home once competent amateur rider Eireann Cagney kicks-on from about 3.5 furlongs from home – the way I envision it with naïve hope.
10pts win – Inchbae @ 6/1
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