Salisbury Placepot Picks: 26th June 2013

Geegeez Placepot

A very nice return last night, with the placepot paying £135.40, and all three different perms claiming multiples of it. Indeed, the ticket builder option returned £595.76 for an £87 stake, and the all A’s perm paid £541.60 for a £48 stake (or £54.16 for a £4.80 stake). Not bad at all.

Today, I’m heading to Salisbury for what might very well be Khajaaly’s last race in the geegeez.co.uk colours, before he heads to the sales on 16th July He runs in the seventh race so there’s no need for me to worry about nominating (or not) in the placepot! For what it’s worth, I really hope he places at least today, and I’ve backed him accordingly. And I’ll also be focusing on the placepot there, having missed getting on last night due to a meeting: a meeting which cost me £508!!! Grrr.

On to the perm…

2.20 – Leg 1: Chutney may have a ‘9’ next to her name, but she is about the form pick here, as that was in a very hot race. Meeting Waters is an obvious danger, granted progression from first to second run, and they’ll do here.

A – 1 (Chutney), 3 (Meeting Waters)

2.50 – Leg  2: It’s going to be hard to keep Brown Sugar out of the first two unless at least two of the newcomers are pretty smart. He’s a very cheap place lay to cover stakes in any case, and is banker material here.

A – 1 (Brown Sugar)

3.20 – Leg 3: The third maiden on the card, and this time it might be worth taking more than just the even money favourite. Maiden fillies can under-perform, and Sir Michael Stoute’s Meddling has had two tries already without progressing from first to second run. The problem is that there’s not a great deal in opposition, though perhaps Quantify will be forward enough on her debut. Secretly could also win on the pick of her form, but she was disappointing last time and a 73-rated horse shouldn’t really be winning a race like this.

The rest probably don’t count, though Candy Kitten wasn’t beaten far on debut and will know more this time.

A – 4 (Meddling)
B – 5 (Quantify), 6 (Secretly)

3.50 – Leg 4: Ah, some ‘men from the boys’ handicap action. A bigger field of eleven chase a valuable prize here. The market has an odd look to it, with reputations favoured over form, and that might create an upset opportunity.

Jacob Cats is the starting point, having cost a quarter of a million at the sales. He then clunked on his debut for Olly Stevens, a trainer on the up and up (Royal Ascot winner with Extortionist last week). If you can forgive Jacob that run, he has arguably the best form here. A.

I’m also drawn to David Simcock’s Mabait, who steps back up to a mile for the first time in ages. Given that his last three wins have been at the trip, it’s weird (to me, at least) that he’s been campaigned over shorter, and he could return to form under optimal conditions: he’s a horse that has previously won off 108, so 89 here looks playable.

Rockalong ran a fair way below the level of his penultimate race the last day, and is stepped up again in class here. If he’s not found his class ceiling, he could easily bounce back, especially as he’s likely to get his own way on or near the front.

On B, I’m insuring with Lord Ofthe Shadows, and the unpronounceable (and unspellable – not a word!),  Bancnuanaheireann, both of which will be running on inside the final furlong and could snatch places if they go off too fast.

A – 2 (Jacob Cats), 7 (Mabait), 8 (Rockalong)
B – 5 (Bancnuanaheireann), 10 (Lord Ofthe Shadows)

4.25 – Leg 5: Probably Salisbury’s most famous race, the Bibury Cup has attracted a small field this time of just six runners. While that may disappoint the local beaks, it remains a battle for us to win (or place) on the way to claiming victory in the placepot war.

Ennistown looks interesting, with Barzalona probably going to try to make all. Everything looks set fair, apart from the fact that he’s not won in two attempts at Class 3. Perhaps it will be third time lucky, but I’ll need some ballast on my ticket to counter that tenuous ‘perhaps’.

Snowy Dawn looks interesting at the bottom of the handicap, Jimmy Quinn likely to give this fellow a ‘kitchen sink’ ride, with trip, class and ground in his favour. In truth, they all have some sort of chance, and I’ll add Cafe Society and I’ll add stout-looking stayer, Royal Signaller before I’m through with leg five.

A – 1 (Ennistown), 6 (Snowy Dawn)
B – 2 (Royal Signaller), 4 (Cafe Society)

4.55 – Leg 6: And we close with a fillies’ sprint handicap. Lummy!

Anything could happen here, and it may pay to be close to or on the speed. Using that as my ‘going in position’, I’m interested in Princess Cammie at a price. She should lead and might prove tough to peg back in a weak enough race. I’ll add last time out winner, Glossy Posse, and ignore the fancied Front Page News from what looks a tough enough draw.

Spray Tan is also a decent price, given her form and, whilst she has to prove herself at this trip, she was going on at the end last time, and this is a fairly easy six furlongs. This is a really tough conundrum, and I think there’s every chance of a placepot result, which is why I’m taking plenty of big-priced nags.

On B then, let’s roll with the unexposed Emerald Sea and Roanne; plus Elusive Gold and Starlight Angel, both of which have shown speed on occasion.

That might still not be enough coverage, with the second favourite and a couple of well-backed rags omitted, but we can’t take all of ’em!

A – 1 (Glossy Posse), 3 (Emerald Sea), 11 (Princess Cammie)
B – 4 (Starlight Angel), 6 (Elusive Gold), 7 (Roanne), 9 (Spray Tan)

Just A’s – 2 x 1 x 1 x 3 x 2 x 3 = 36 bets

All picks – 2 x 1 x 3 x 5 x 4 x 7 = 840 bets

Ticket builder optimized perm – see below.

Salisbury placepot

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