The weather gods have hopefully relented and after a few miserable days we should have a fairly clean run through to the weekend now which will be music to the ears of Newbury's clerk of the course. Lingfield Park however, will most definitely be a sodden place tomorrow when it hosts a decent National Hunt meeting. Most known as an all-weather track these days, the racecourse was opened in 1890 by the future King Edward VII who gave his permission for the Prince of Wales' feathers to be incorporated into the logo which we still see today. I should think it unlikely that there will be another royal visit any time soon but they will be missing out as Lingfield's jumps track offers a real test of stamina and strength with it's uphill climb down the backstraight and long winding finish. I really am a fan of National Hunt racing in this pleasant part of Surrey and it is a shame that it will no longer host the Winter Million with that affair be moved to Windsor from next year.
Lingfield
13:45, Download The At The Races App Handicap Chase
Airtothethrone 15/2 (each-way 3 places)
Fear ye not. I won't bore you with the ins and outs of how I've decided Tim Vaughan's 8 year old is worth a punt as that can be found on yesterday's piece covering the 14:00 at Hereford in which Airtothethrone was declared a non-runner earlier on today. I suspect he was pulled out due to the ground with Hereford not receiving the apocalyptic deluge that had been expected overnight. He comes here instead and will encounter the much easier surface that connections are seemingly looking for.
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Taunton
14:35, Trucksmith Dropside Handicap Hurdle
Vivid Pink 6/1 (each-way 5 places)
This is a thoroughly competitive handicap for the grade and it's been plonked in the middle of Taunton's mid-week card. The ground conditions are expected to be far better than at Lingfield with the current description reading: good-soft, good in places. Prairie Diamond will be favourite to complete a quickfire double after success at Wincanton 6 days ago. There must be some caution as that wasn't readily expected (sent off 17/2 in a weak race) and the runner-up (reopposing Sassified) has been mightily disappointing so far this year. My main worry is how he did most of the work in that race from the front and with free running speedball Zhang Fei in here under 7 pound claimer Fern O'Brien there could be a bit of a fight for the lead. That could spell trouble for those on the front end and set this up for something off the pace. Step forth Vivid Pink. This 5 year old mare is still a maiden after 8 races however, her most recent outing at Huntingdon was very pleasing as she finished second having failed to concede a whopping 20 pounds to the winner (a Jersey St Leger winner no less). That was her first run at the trip and it was most encouraging despite the handicapper leaving her mark untouched on 93. She is usually ridden from off the pace to make late headway so with a potential fast pace to aim at on a slightly more demanding course here, she could go close. Her last run in maiden hurdle company was back in May when she finished second to a Dan Skelton runner who has won since and is now rated 117. The Alan King stable continues in good nick, Tom Cannon again takes the ride (against plenty of less experienced jockeys in the race) and I'm sure they'll be thinking that if their mare can bring her A-game that she'll run a very good race. She's the play in the each-way market with a few bookies offering 5 places.
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