Dundalk top racing tip: Hasten Slowly has pace to challenge warm favourite

19:30 Dundalk: Celebrate Valentine’s at CCR Handicap (6 furlongs)

Blackjack edged a short head in front of the favourite after being backed down from the advised odds of 8/1 to 100/30 at the off.

Friday’s Daily Bargain is Hasten Slowly, who was a previous course-distance winner in early December when she beat 13 rivals to win a 0-63 handicap off the top mark of 63.

Back over the same trip just before Christmas, and racing off 67, she contested a stronger handicap than this, which featured 14 runners rated up to 70.

Five of them were rated higher than any of today’s field, including the winner (now 74), and the first pair home were both progressive three-year-olds, the likes of which are absent in this contest for older handicappers.

Suggested best bet: Hasten Slowly in the 19:30 at Dundalk

Ending up on the often unfavoured far side in the home straight that day, she ran a lot better than her finishing position (5th/14) suggests because she missed the places by just a head and a neck and she was only three quarters of a length behind the runner-up.

Now 2lbs lower and facing easier opposition, she looks an attractive proposition, and even her wide draw should not prove too much of a disadvantage as her course-distance success came from way out in stall 17.

Back down on her lowest mark since that win, this filly looks to have been underestimated, just as she was when she won here from this draw a few weeks ago.

Her rider has won on three of his last six rides (all at this track) and looks great value for his 7lb claim, so another big run looks on the cards.

• Tips and analysis provided by Steve Jones who runs CD Systems Daily Bargain on Tipstrr

Of the others, it’s no surprise to see Dark Secret heading the early market on the back of a win and a second from his last two outings, both of which were over this course and distance.

He beat 25 of the 26 rivals he faced in those two handicaps, winning a 14-runner 0-60 by a clear 4.25 lengths and then finishing runner-up of 14 behind a well-backed winner off 7lbs higher in a 0-62.

Just a pound higher this time, and with his winning rider Nathan Crosse back in the saddle, taking over from the claiming rider who partnered him here last time, the six-year-old is in the form to produce another big performance.

Next Best bet: Dark Street in the 19:30 at Dundalk

 

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