My Day Three Rides

2:50 Saint Calvados 

His last run was bit disappointing, but it was discovered after the race that he’d burst a blood vessel. So it’s obvious he wasn’t 100%.

In light of that Paul (Nicholls) has decided to train him a little differently at home and he seems to think he’s got the horse back in a good groove.  

Looking at the opposition I imagine we’ll aim to settle him away from the early pace. Allaho will no doubt look to set a decent gallop – as he did last year when winning.

It’d be a bold shout to say I fancy him strongly to win this race given the level of opposition we’re up against. But he’s placed in the race before at big odds and is still only a nine-year-old.

With the new training regime having sweetened him up, I’m confident he’ll outrun his odds.

4:10 Simply The Betts

He’s a lovely old horse – he’s very genuine and usually runs to a high level.

You can put a line through his last run as the yard were under a bit of a cloud at the time. The run before that he put up a great performance to finish second in a similarly competitive handicap at Cheltenham.

The major negative though is that he’ll have to shoulder top weight. He’s a big, strong horse though so I’m hoping the extra few pounds won’t damage his chances too much.

His form figures over course and distance are 112; there are plenty of reasons to believe he can produce another good run.