A couple of bets on the card at Leicester this afternoon, starting with Ralph Beckett’s Vee Sight in the opener.
He was given a nice introduction in a decent maiden at Sandown Park in August, by no means knocked about and I thought the penny was dropping in the final furlong and he stayed on nicely to the line.
Beckett knows this classy family so well and four of the five siblings that he has trained won maidens at two, including a couple of them on soft/heavy ground. All five ran to a minimum Racing Post Rating of 93 during their careers, so it is a family with a huge amount of ability – the dam was a triple winner, including twice on soft ground, and is a half-sister to 2008 Oaks winner Look Here.
The Roger Varian-trained newcomer is unsurprisingly favourite given his price tag (2.7m) and there is also a newcomer to contend with from the Appleby yard, but I fancy Vee Sight to get the better of those with previous experience and with that Sandown run under his belt, hopefully he can get the better of the two debutants.
1.00 Leicester – 1pt each-way Vee Sight @ 9-1 (various)
The 1m nursery looks a really weak contest and it is no surprise to see the William Haggas-trained Hurry Up Hedley at the top of the market. However, I thought Divining went through the race won by today’s favourite at Wolverhampton last time with a degree of promise and she was only just over 2L behind at the line (also lost a shoe).
She’d been quite well-backed at prices that day, having previously run ok when mid-division in a Salisbury novice, and I thought it was a creditable run, particularly given she was made plenty of use of in what was a strongly-run contest.
Stan Moore has had a quiet campaign, but he has a fair record in nurseries at this time of year and can get one to pop up at a big price. Divining has shown enough to suggest she can be competitive in a race of this nature and looks overpriced this afternoon.
2.40pm Leicester – 1pt win, 0.5pt place Divining @ 40-1 (various)
