Top Tipster Daryl Carter heads into the weekend in good form, can he bag more Saturday winners?
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Posted: 8.30am October 28th (Odds correct at time of writing)
1.30 Ascot – Gowel Road (1pt – 11/2 Paddy Power/Betfair, 5/1 generally)
I want to be with GOWEL ROAD for this assignment after showing plenty of ability at Perth behind a race-fit improver, and that track almost certainly didn’t suit him with its sharp right-handed bends. This is more suitable, and he shaped like a potential improver for that chase/seasonal debut. I liked the way he earned his rating over hurdles, and he toughed it out in some of the season’s most competitive handicaps, and the six-year-old is a thorough stayer at this trip. He has race-fitness on his side and has improved for the first outing of the year in the past both times by considerable amounts if the RPRs are anything to go by. I don’t see Goshen as a chaser. His attributes over hurdles were to bulldoze his way to victory, run down the hurdles and kill the race during the mid-section, but he may not have that option when it comes to getting over the larger obstacles. Samarrive is an improver for a fence, but he is hard to trust, especially here, where he pulled up over hurdles and maybe one to watch when he heads to Sandown. Cobblers Dream makes appeal but he will need fences to improve him to run out a winner first time here against a race fit Gowel Road.
2.05 Ascot – Anyharminasking (1.5pt win – 7/2 Bet365, 3/1 generally)
Washington (1pt e/w – 8/1 generally)
(1pt W/O Anyharminasking 5/1 Betfair)
ANYHARMINASKING has popped the eyes out with two effortless victories at Sedgefield and Catterick, and the form as worked out from those contests, suggesting all of his rivals ran up to their ratings. His time figures are hard to get a handle on, considering he was being held on to for a long time and won both outings in a canter. Still, they read well enough to know that he warrants his current rating of 137. He is open to plenty of improvement yet and could still be thrown in if taking his Point To Point form literally. I want to tread carefully with him, but he can’t go unbacked, and if winning this, he could head to the Greatwood under a penalty. The yard won this last year with Soaring Glory, and there is always a plan with their horses. Visually, he looks like a really promising horse.
WASHINGTON is a very good each-way bet here on the balance of his form, and he has won both outings when fresh. I liked this horse a lot last term and thought he did nothing wrong when held up in small-field tactical races. He ran a scorcher at Aintree but was poorly positioned in a stop-start gallop of a race, and I had him running a figure 8 lengths better than Hacker Des Places – the winner of that contest. He is better off at the weights today, but more importantly, we haven’t seen what he is fully capable of, and now could be the time to catch him. The handicapper was lenient last season, leaving him on this rating, so I expect Olly Murphy to have him ready to go.
3.15 Ascot – Regal Encore (0.5pt e/w – 20/1 Bet365, 18/1 generally)
Our Power (1pt win – 6/1 bet365, 5/1 generally)
Old boy REGAL ENCORE will likely be ready for his life in what may be the swansong of his long glittering career. Anthony Honeyball will have him ready for his life as he attempts a third crack at this contest – he was second in 2019, won in 2020, and third last year, and he is running off a career-low handicap rating this time around – some 13lbs lower than last year. Plenty of these will have bigger targets ahead during the season, but that’s not the case for our selection, and this could be his Gold Cup.
OUR POWER was a horse we followed for a while last term on this column and got rewarded for doing so at Wincanton and Huntingdon, and it may be worth taking a chance with him again, given the improvement he showed. He ran a blinder in the Ultima Handicap at Cheltenham when posted wide for much of the contest, only to hit a flat spot turning for home once hitting the front and staying on again. It was a performance that suggested he was ahead of the handicapper, and remarkably he was dropped two pounds for it. He looks worth a chance under Charlie Deutsch, who could have a good day at Ascot today. I failed to mention him on the Weekend Watch, but I have had more time to look at the race and suggest a bet at 6/1 or bigger.
1pt win
3.35 Wetherby – Ahoy Senor (2pt win – 2/1 generally)
There are going to be plenty of people split in this race between the top three in the betting, but the horse that is the wrong price is AHOY SENOR if showing anything of the form he did last season. He has now beaten Bravemansgame twice, and his latest demolition job of that horse at Aintree recorded a very fine time. He could be a real force to be reckoned with if tidying up in the jumping department but there looks like there could be pace pressure in here from Bravemansgame’s stablemate Secret Investor and Fergal O’Brien’s Paint The Dream, but that could help him keep a straight line when jumping today as it did when Ashtown Lad jumped upsides here at Wetherby. Ahoy Senor boasts a course win, has beaten the favourite twice and has seen his form workout remarkably well. Bravemansgame simply doesn’t have the depth in form that the selection does, and despite a win over him at Kempton, this is a completely different test.
Daryl Carter’s Best Bets
1.30 Ascot – Gowel Road (1pt – 11/2 Paddy Power/Betfair, 5/1 generally)
2.05 Ascot – Anyharminasking (1.5pt win – 7/2 Bet365, 3/1 generally)
Washington (1pt e/w – 8/1 generally)
(1pt W/O Anyharminasking 5/1 Betfair)
3.15 Ascot – Regal Encore (0.5pt e/w – 20/1 Bet365, 18/1 generally)
Our Power (1pt win – 6/1 bet365, 5/1 generally)
3.35 Wetherby – Ahoy Senor (2pt win – 2/1 generally)
