The juvenile hurdle at Dieppe (3.12pm) has a relatively open look to it, but I liked the hurdling debut of Jeu De Carte and he is worth backing today.
Winner of an AQPS bumper in May, he ran very creditably under a penalty next time and there were plenty of positives to take from his hurdling debut at Clairefontaine early last month. He jumped fluently in the main, travelled into the race well and just looked to get a little tired going into the last.
That came behind one of this summer’s better juveniles, Jibril Des Mottes, and these look slightly calmer waters. The better ground should suit him well and his trainer is enjoying a better time of it this year, including two wins for Little Thunder here at Dieppe in recent weeks.
3.12pm Dieppe – 1pt win, 0.5pt place Jeu De Carte @ 7-1 (most firms)
Celtic Girl was a costly faller for us at the second-last at Cagnes in December off a mark of 52.5, as she looked set to go very close that day.
A winner of a level-weights contest at Le Lion D’Angers last August, she was third in a Listed handicap hurdle at Auteuil off 54 last September, so it’s fair to say her back form suggests she could be very nicely treated off today’s basement mark of 50.
She has left Julien Merienne since her last run and is now in the care of Erwan Grall. Though the yard form does tend to bit up and down, Grall is very capable of readying one and if he has got Celtic Girl back to the form she was showing last term, she will take the beating here. It’s her first run since April, so it may be that this is just a reappearance run, but it is a sole runner of the day for both trainer and jockey, and at the 25-1 on offer she is worth chancing.
5.32pm Dieppe – 1pt win, 0.5pt place Celtic Girl @ 25-1 (all firms)
