Uttoxeter – Wednesday 8th September

As the dust settles on another day, I’m thinking more and more about the exciting cards from Doncaster and Leopardstown this Saturday, where some of the finest horses are going to war against each other in some of the best races of the season. However, today is all about Uttoxeter, and despite the opening day of the Leger meeting taking  place at Doncaster, I’ll be keeping it coy on that so far, and wait for the right time to judge some selections for that meeting. Uttoxeter hosts something more in line with my bread and butter, and there are a couple of races I’ll be taking a good look at. 

I’ll be starting off with the open looking 2.00 race, which is a conditional jockeys handicap over the minimum trip of 2 miles. I quite fancy two horses in this race at each way prices, and both have been subject to some overnight support. 

The first is the formerly Irish trained, Vocal Duke, who after a small spell at the yard of Tim Vaughan, has now switched allegiances to the up and coming Toby Lawes. I think this is a good recruit for this yard, as there is more than enough evidence to suggest that a mark of 100 will be more than workable for this 5 year old. His last run in Ireland, which was around a year ago at this point, was a close third behind Kapard, who is a decent stick for De Bromhead and has registered RPRs consistently in the 120s. Vocal Duke but in a better effort on second start for the Vaughan team, when coming fourth behind Chez Hans last time out. He has dropped a few pounds for that performance and most importantly, has dropped into a 0-100 class for the first time, with top conditional Kevin Brogan taking the ride. I think there is a lot suggesting a decent run can be expected. At a price of 9/1 with the majority of bookmakers, make sure to find one paying 5 places, for an each way bet. 

The other horse in this line up that must have a chance if returning to any sort of form is Don Juan Du Gouet, who has been woefully out of sorts in recent starts. It takes stretching back nearly two years to October 2019 when this horse won two on the spin when trained by Henry Daly, off marks of 102 and 109 respectively. He now lanquishes off a mark of 91 in this race, with Jordan Nailor taking a further 3 pounds off his back. One would have to take it trust that this horse retains an of his ability, given the fact that we have not seen him run an encouraging race for a couple of seasons – but he is too well handicapped to ignore completely. In this sort of grade, he could well run a bigger race than some might expect. At a price of 16/1 with William Hill, who are one of the firms offering 5 places, I’ll play the two horses each way in this race. 

The final selection comes in the 3.40 race, which is a staying handicap chase over 3m2f. Yet again, I’ll be siding with a horse that has been dreadfully out of sorts in recent times but is just staring at you in the face when looking for well handicapped horses. Young Wolf drops into the grade of 0-125 for the first time after a fair few disappointing efforts in stronger events such as this. It only takes looking back at his form from last summer, when winning two races off marks in the high 130s, including at this course – which would indicate how well handicapped he has become. Kevin Brogan comes in for the ride for Jonjo O’Neill, who has a great habit of freshening horses up when required. I think Young Wolf will take all the beating in this race. At a price of 3/1 with Coral, I am hoping he can turn it around.