Nick Williams has a couple out tomorrow in the two big races at Wincanton, one of them an old favourite and one more a new one. Alfie Spinner runs again in the Badger Ales Trophy, a race he was second in last season to a rampantly well handicapped Standing Ovation. That horse re-opposes again and has already beaten Alfie when they both made their seasonal debuts at Cheltenham last month but Alfie is slightly better off at the weights and is still in my opinion off a winning mark (127). I backed him three or four times last season and he always seemed to find a good one to beat him (Mendip Express stands out) but he's consistent and jumps very well in the main. I think 14/1 is very fair.
I'm also backing Fox Norton in the Elite Hurdle. I think this race has a great betting shape with the front two in the market both very opposable at relatively short odds. Rock on Ruby has been a high class hurdler in the past but he's nearly ten years old now and giving a shedload of weight away in this. Irving is a very nice prospect but is incredibly short given both his level of form and record of his trainer's horses first time out this season. He beat the selection's stable companion Amore Alato five lengths off level weights in the Dovecote at Kempton last February and it's clear to anyone who follows Nick's stable that Fox Norton and Le Rocher were both well ahead of that horse in the yards pecking order last season. Fox Norton was a tad disappointing last back end in a Grade 1 at Aintree but he hadn't run since the turn of the year and that's always a red flag for novices going into the big spring Festivals and he was much better in a hotter looking event at Punchestown in the following month when only Abbyssial and Apache Stronghold could best him. It's a tough assignment tomorrow but the 21 on Betfair available as I type this is bordering on insulting.
Badger Ales Trophy:
Alfie Spinner £25w @ 14/1 (3rd)
Elite Hurdle:
Fox Norton £25w @ 20/1 (lost)
Both the above in a £10ew dbl, each at 14/1
(-110)
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