3 minute read

Thomas Hodgson returns with two selections for you on Monday…

Sainte Doctor, who runs in the famous green and gold silks of J.P. McManus, is one of three horses declared at Plumpton in the 2m3f Nick Embricos Memorial Handicap Chase (15:55).

The Neil Mulholland trained mare is worth chancing due to the strength of her back form, winning twice on the spin when last seen on course in 2023. After a break of 544 days, one is compelled to risk the notion that the eight-year-old has plenty left in the tank to give.

Last time out, she impressed when winning comfortably at Ludlow on similar ground projected to that on Monday. Prior to that, she showed plenty of resilience and grit when hard ridden to win in a handicap chase at Chepstow.

Unless the market has it spot on, and the mare will improve for the run, 7/1 seems overpriced for a horse seeking a hat-trick receiving weight from the field. This is reaffirmed when assessing course form, in that she has won over both track and trip.

This mare is obviously useful and if she can reproduce her peak efforts, this should be a manageable task to take advantage of an inflated price.

WIN – SAINTE DOCTOR – 4/1

The immaculately bred Kaizen debuts in the 7f Free Digital Racecard At raceday-ready.com Novice Stakes (18:15) at Southwell on Monday.

A 425,000gns purchase from last year's Tattersalls Book 1 Sale, the 2-year-old is bred in the purple, by Kingman and out of Shambolic. This makes the colt a half-brother to highly-rated Group 1 Fillies Mile winner Ylang Ylang. If the market vibrations are right, this could be a serious test for his rivals.

John and Thady Gosden boast an impeccable 29% strike rate when sending their horses to the all-weather at Southwell, while Oisin Murphy has an eye-catching strike rate of 31% when riding for the Clarehaven team.

In terms of the competition, the main threats are expensive breeze-up buys Heart of Honour and Golden Garden, both of which are trained by Jamie Osborne. I am choosing to put faith in pedigrees here, however, and banking on the fact that John and Thady Gosden's colt will have too much class for his rivals and subsequently step into more testing company.

WIN – KAIZEN – 11/8