Monday Wolverhampton top racing tip: Longer trip set to suit Tothenines
Wolverhampton racecourse
From a quiet Monday racecard, Tipstrr horse racing pundit Steve Jones has picked out Tothenines, who is already receiving support in the betting after showing some promising recent form.
The early favourite was the exposed six-year-old Abnaa, who looked too short given that he runs off a career-high mark on his 42nd start as he moves up in grade.
He also steps up 1.6 furlongs in distance, and switches to a track where he has placed just once in five visits, and now has the widest draw of all in stall 13 to contend with.
Those doubts have shifted market support towards Tothenines, who has risen to the top of the betting after dropping in grade off a reduced mark, following an eye-catching performance at Southwell last month.
That last run was also his first try over a mile, having spent all his career racing over 5-7 furlongs, and not only did he relish the extra furlong but he stayed on particularly strongly in the closing stages, opening up lots of new doors for himself in the process.
19:00 (Wolverhampton) Tothenines
Unsurprisingly on his first run over a mile, he ran keenly behind a slower pace than he had previously been used to, and, also unsurprisingly, he was held up well off the pace in order to conserve his stamina.
In what was a far stronger 11-runner Class 3 handicap he actually raced against the pace bias because the first three home all raced very prominently the whole way while Tothenines and the race favourite Zealot (who was fourth) were easily the best of those who raced behind the pace, having both been in the last three at the top of the home straight.
But it was Tothenines whose effort took the eye the most because, having come through to mount a challenge approaching the furlong pole, he found his path blocked and he had to be snatched up, but although his chance had gone he still finished best of all, passing four rivals in the last half-furlong and still closing in on the principals at the line.
On that evidence, today's extra half-furlong is welcome on the circuit where he ran very well on his one previous visit, just last December, when he finished a never-nearer runner-up of eight in a 0-82 contest over the shorter 7.2f trip.
From a handy inside stall today, Tothenines looks an attractive proposition off a mark that is seven pounds lower after the claim of his rider, Pierre-Louis Jamin, who is the only one to have won on Tothenines before.
Of the others, May Night has only ever won over seven furlongs so far, but he is another who has recently been stepped up in trip to good effect, including a strong-finishing second of 13 in a 0-82 contest at Kempton last time out.
He was wearing re-applied cheek pieces which will need to work as well again, but he has now gone close in both his mile runs so far this year.
He won a 0-79 over 7.2 furlongs on his first visit to this track as a three-year-old and he runs off exactly the same mark again today. He also has a decent stall 5 draw and Rossa Ryan, who rode him at Kempton last time, is booked to partner him again.
