Barnacullia to stick with it in his first handicap

Backing the youngest horses in the 2m1f Sandyford Handicap Chase at Leopardstown would have found the winner in five of the past six years and also provided a 182-1 Tote Exacta dividend in 2019 from a shortlist of just three runners.

Six-year-old was placed in a Grade 2 novice chase at Punchestown when he last ran over this sort of trip and could go well on his handicap chase debut in Saturday’s contest. I’ll be saving on sevenyear-old A WAVE OF THE SEA, winner of this race for the past two years.

GUSTAV HOLST could finish only eighth of the 12 runners in a 1m6f handicap at Southwell last time but progeny of Sea The Stars have a poor record at the Nottinghamshire venue since the Fibresand was replaced with Tapeta in December 2021, landing just one of their 25 starts.

In that period, had we simply backed any last-time-out Tapeta runner (including Wolverhampton and Newcastle) who switched to Polytrack next time, we’d have found seven winners from 25 bets for a profit of £18.03 to a £1 level stake at starting price. Mark Usher’s five-year-old could be worth another chance in the Acca Club £5 Free Bet Handicap at Lingfield.

Ten-year-olds – the youngest age group eligible to take part – have won all three previous runnings of the bet365 Auld Yin

BARNACULLIA

Conditional Jockeys’ Veterans’ Handicap Chase at Musselburgh and JUGE AT PARTI fits the bill.

WASHINGTON (pictured below), best served by a big field/ strong pace scenario, should have conditions to suit in the bet365 Scottish County Handicap Hurdle.

Olly Murphy’s seven-yearold fared second best of the closers when fifth at Ascot on his return in late October and can be forgiven his pulled-up at Newbury the following month when he reportedly didn’t face the first-time hood.

He bumped into a useful one of Dan Skelton’s when runner-up at Leicester last time and his yard is in good form.

Richard Newland’s eight previous runners at Musselburgh recorded two wins and four places from eight starts, and REWIRED, runner-up at Kelso last time, is taken to go one better in the bet365 Handicap Hurdle.

STRIKING A POSE was only eighth of 14 to Remastered at Kempton last time but did too much too soon and that run was worthy of a major upgrade.

The winner, runner-up, third, fifth, sixth and seventh all came from midfield or further back and he fared second best of the prominent racers. He can bounce back in the Leicester Racecourse Ideal Conference Venue Handicap Chase on Wednesday.

LATINO FLING finished well beaten at Uttoxeter on New

Year’s Eve but was sent off 20-1 on that first outing for 108 days and should improve for the run.

She returns to maresonly company at Newcastle on Tuesday and her record when taking on her own sex in handicap hurdles reads 231311331 (4-9). She was 11-1 with William Hill at the time of writing and could reward eachway support once again.

Milton Harris has a good record when fitting one of his handicappers with a tongue-tie for the first time, scoring with seven of the 27 qualifiers since 2010 for a profit of £30.50 to a £1 level stake at starting price.

Scriptwriter, the most recent qualifier on this system, won at 11-1 at Wolverhampton just after Christmas and HURRICANE VICHI can keep the ball rolling when he contests the Sky Sports 535 Handicap Hurdle at Lingfield on Tuesday.