Worcester Thursday 27th May

There is a well-used saying in horse racing suggesting that you should keep yourself in the best company possible, and your horses in the worst.

Today’s daily selection has not been adhering to the last six words of the above sentence, that is until today. Alexandra Dunn’s ex-French filly Sarceaux has been set some tough tasks in her five hurdling starts to date, and in the Together We Are Stronger Handicap Hurdle at Worcester at 2.40 today, she has her first winnable opportunity.

At 17/2 generally, she is very much worth supporting each-way – assuming there isn’t another non-runner to reduce the current dead eight down to seven. That particular gripe seems to be fresh in the memory for some reason…!

With yesterday’s third of seven each-way bet going down the drain, maybe it is worth attempting to be as patient as possible with the timing of the placement of today’s bet, just to ensure that we can get the maximum place terms possible.

Equally, a couple of firms (chiefly William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral) offer prices with fixed each-way extra place terms, and would be well worth exploring. 10am is usually the point at which these start to appear.

Anyhow, back to the crux of the matter, and that is that Sarceaux has shown some real glimpses of ability in some of the more competitive and classy races available to three and four-year-old fillies in the last six months.

Her first two starts came in hot introductory juvenile hurdles, and a quick glance at some the names she was up against reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the top 20 of last season’s juvenile hurdlers. In finishing in amongst the ruck at Ascot and Kempton, she more than held her own on both occasions.

Once eligible for handicaps, her only two starts in that sphere to date have come at Cheltenham and Kempton. Once again, she was set tricky tasks on both occasions. The Cheltenham race was a high-quality fillies handicap, in which there were seven of her eight rivals rated 115 or higher. While her last start at Kempton was just a five-runner race, but featured solid older female handicappers, and again the lowest rated rival had a mark of 113.

A quick run-down of today’s opposition in this 0-100 handicap sees her highest rated rival on the lowly perch of 95, over a stone inferior to the type of horse that she has been running with credit against.

This is the day for Sarceaux’s ability, that has smouldered on these shores up until now, to catch light, and at 17/2 generally each-way, she is way over-priced to win the 2.40 at Worcester today.