Stat of the Day, 17th January 2013

Stat of the Day: 17/01/13

Stat of the Day, 17th January 2013

SotD’s ‘binary January’ continued yesterday, as Laura Mongan took her own personal binary record in that particular race to 01010: two wins and three last placed horses, as First Avenue was unsuited by the slow pace and never got involved.

Today, with a change of chair and frost in the air, I’m swerving the turf in case it’s cancelled and heading for the beach at Dunstall Park, and the…

7.00 Wolverhampton

A very trappy Class 4 handicap is not ideal, but there’s really very little to go at today, so go at it we shall.

The horse for this course is Michael Easterby’s Desert Vision, a 47 race veteran. He’s run fifteen of those 47 races here, and won five of them. Indeed, his full course record is a supremely consistent 562811212131332. Thus, in his last eleven races here, he’s not been out of the frame. And he’s won three of his seven starts at this trip.

This afternoon’s contest sees him race two grades below the level in which he was third – beaten less than two lengths – on his penultimate start. True, he was a disappointing second when sent off as an odds-on chance in a claimer last time, but he looks sure to run his race again this evening.

Pace in the race could come from the SotD stalwart, Dubawi Island or perhaps Spifer or Copperwood, with Desert Vision’s own prominent run style matched by his middle draw. Graham Gibbons knows his way round Dunstall Park better than most, with a 19% win and 38% place strike rate.

After a win or nowhere sort of month so far, Desert Vision is the type to be there or thereabouts almost inevitably, so each way is the only way to play. 6/1 was the best available as I wrote this at 11pm last night, so make sure you click the link below to find the pick of the odds when you read SotD…

Click here for the latest betting on the 7.00 Wolverhampton