Salisbury hosts its season-opening seven-race card on Wednesday. In anticipation of what promises to be a fine curtain-raiser at the Wiltshire venue, our expert has delved into the card identifying a horse, jockey and a trainer to note. Check out his thoughts, along with a new customer sign-up at bet365, who offer £50 In Free Bets to new customers, when you sign-up and bet £10.
JOCKEY: FRANKIE DETTORI – (Samburu, 6:10pm)
Top jockey Frankie Dettori heads to Salisbury for the sole ride on Wednesday when partnering up with the John & Thady Gosden trained SAMBURU in Salisbury’s 7f novice stakes.
This Kingman colt is the first foal out of a 7f juvenile winner, herself a sister to a Grade 2 winner in Set Piece.
Samburu was limited to the sole outing as a juvenile, defying odds of 11/1 to land a Yarmouth novice on debut back in October. That probably wasn’t the strongest race in the world, for all that there was a now 95-rated runner in fourth, but Samburu could only win as he did and the experience should not be lost on him.
He has a penalty to carry for that victory, but given connections that shouldn’t prove a barrier to success and Dettori taking over in the saddle looks telling.
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HORSE: SPIRIT MIXER – (7:10pm, Larasian Handicap)
You won’t get a better-bred horse running at Salisbury on Wednesday than SPIRIT MIXER, who is a son of Frankel and the first foal out of the 2015 Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen.
Spirit Mixer hasn’t quite hit the heights that his top-class pedigree suggested he could, gaining handicap wins at Newmarket, and here at Salisbury, in nine starts last season.
He reappears in 2022 on a mark of 79, which is 7lb above his last winning rating, but his form figures at this venue read a more than respectable 321 and Callum Hutchinson removes a handy 5lb, so he’s expected to be at least on the premises here.
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TRAINER: DAVID PIPE – (Mr Tambourine Man, 7:40pm)
There are few yards in better form at present than that of David Pipe, with the Pond House based trainer operating at a 38% strike rate with his runners in the last fortnight. A horse that has helped to build up that record is MR TAMBOURINE MAN, who was a 12l winner over hurdles at Exeter last time, and he’s particularly interesting with the obstacles removed in Salisbury’s concluding 1m6f handicap.
Mr Tambourine Man ran in two 7f turf novices last season, catching the eye when fifth at this venue. Those races were contested over far from Mr Tambourine Man’s optimum trip, as his latest extended 2m5f hurdles success shows.
He’s now rated 117 over hurdles, yet gets into this on a Flat rating of just 58, and the booking of Tom Marquand suggests that connections are confident of a bold showing.
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