An eight-race card over jumps at Fontainebleau and our bet runs in the claiming hurdle, with Younes a tempting price on his return to action after ten weeks off.
Runner-up in a claimer over this course and distance in November for the Lageneste/Macaire team, he was claimed by current connections and instantly repaid nearly double his purchase price when landing a conditions race, again over this course and distance.
That race really hasn’t worked out, but he did it very well and while the form is weak, so is the standard in this claimer.
His form figures since read P778, but the first of those came in Listed company at Auteuil, and the next three efforts were all at Cagnes (the first two of them over fences), which doesn’t suit plenty of horses, particularly as the ground gets so bad. I thought he ran better than the finishing position suggests when last seen – it was a better claimer than this, and he made an awful mistake at the last, which accentuated the distance he was beaten.
We’re taking a bit of a risk, but the proven course form is a big plus, the break will hopefully have done him some good, and this really is a very weak race, in which the favourite has been beaten in claimers on his last six starts.
1.40pm Fontainebleau – 1pt win, 0.5pt place Younes @ 17/2 (various, 9-1 available with Paddy Power, Betfair)
