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Thursday Chelmsford top tip: Vidhaata looking to fulfil promise on all-weather track

Tipstrr horse racing expert Steve Jones has saved his best bet for the very last race at tonight's Chelmsford meeting, where he expects good things from Vidhaata on his preferred all-weather surface.

Early favourite, Copperknob, returns from a 170-day break, as he bids to follow-up his solitary career win (from nine runs), which came in a very weak Class 6 affair at Brighton.

He was well-beaten over this course and distance (albeit from a wide draw) when racing off a pound lower than this last season, and that was in weaker company.

Looking for better value means looking further down the market, where we find top weight, Vidhaata, a lightly-raced three-year-old colt  from Marco Botti's stable, with just four outings to date.

20:30 (Chelmsford) Vidhaata

On the second of his four runs in April, round Wolverhampton's tight left-handed tapeta circuit, Vidhaata showed the sort of promise that had been indicated by the market support he had received on his career debut a month earlier, finishing third of nine runners that were rated higher than any he is facing today.

The winner, Maktoob, is now rated 85, while the runner-up, Okeechobee, who finished less than a length ahead of Vidhaata, has won his next three starts, including a Class 2 handicap over this trip, and on that line of form, Vidhaata, who actually conceded 2lbs to Okeechobee, is potentially very well-treated off his revised mark of just 76.

Following a 164-day break after that Wolverhampton run, Vidhaata contested a one-mile maiden on the tight turf track at Windsor. He finished a solid fourth of eleven without ever troubling the principals over that shorter distance, but the run at least showed he had returned in good shape.

Back at Wolverhampton last month, he was upped in trip again for his handicap debut, a higher-graded Class 4 contest where he was faced with a really tough task from the widest draw of all in stall 13.

His rider decided to try and get him into a prominent early position but, unsurprisingly, several others who were lower-drawn had the same idea and he was forced out very wide and lost his position.

That run can easily be overlooked, but it has had the effect of dropping his mark by 2lbs, plus he now drops down into a much easier Class 5 event and has granted a far kinder stall-5 draw this time.

Ten furlongs on tonight's tight, flat, left-handed polytrack circuit should be ideal and this looks a good opportunity for Vidhaata to start to fulfil the promise he showed against very useful opposition earlier in the year.

Elsewhere, Far Horizon could prove to be nicely treated for his handicap debut after his success in a one-mile novices' stakes on Lingfield's polytrack last month.

He needed every yard of that shorter trip to get up in the closing stages and the strength of the form can be gauged from the fourth-placed finisher, Rogue Star, who is well-proven in Class 5 handicaps.
On that basis, even though he received 7lbs from that rival, Far Horizon looks on a potentially decent opening mark, especially as his family history suggests he will thrive over the longer trip.
He has the scope to progress further and should go well under his winning rider who claims a handy five-pound allowance from the inside draw.

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