Taunton best bet: Course-distance winner Just Loose Change ready to cash in
Nicholls signs off for the year with Taunton treble
With just one National Hunt meeting and one on the Flat, Monday’s racing action looks more than a little threadbare, but Taunton’s afternoon card offers some enthralling contests over the sticks.
15:00 Taunton: Stables Business Park Handicap Hurdle (2 miles 3 furlongs)
None more so than this competitive 12-runner handicap hurdle that the Skelton yard’s course-winner Vicki Vale installed as the early market leader after the seven-year-old mare responded well to summer wind surgery to make the frame in both of this season’s outings at Wincanton and Aintree.
Zoffee did well in this sphere back in 2020, and then proved to be a useful stayer on the Flat, so the experienced eight-year-old looks an interesting prospect now new trainer Ollie Murphy has immediately aimed him back over hurdles for his season and yard debut.
Planet Sport Bet: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if El Rio finishes in the first 3 places, get a £5 Free Bet
However, of the market leaders, it is the in-form and seemingly well-treated Just Loose Change who looks best equipped to get his nose in front here.
A course-distance winner in a lower-grade affair here in April, Nicky Martin’s seven-year-old has displayed steady progress at a higher level this term, and looked close to his best when a close-up runner-up behind Samuel Spade last time out 25 days ago, again over this very trip.
That form has been franked by some of the horses he beat that day, and under the same Sam Twiston-Davies he looks capable of going one better in today’s company, despite his four-pound hike
Suggested best bet: Just Loose Change in the 15:00 at Taunton
- Tip advised by TC’s Punts on Tipstrr
For those among us who prefer juicier odds, then there has been plenty of support in the Tipstrr camp for another of Olly Murphy’s string, Bread And Butter, who is expected to benefit from Oliver Boyden’s seven-pound claim, despite going 31 outings since his last win back in 2020.
An arguably more realistic prospect would be Inca De Lafayette, not least because any runner from the Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden should merit serious consideration.
Planet Sport racing ambassador Cobden rides strong fancies in the opening two races, but this capable six-year-old might just be flying under the bookies radar, perhaps because he has something to prove after Cobden pulled him up on his last outing at Huntingdon 55 days ago.
If that performance can be forgiven, then it should be remembered that Inca De Lafayette won on his hurdle debut at this venue two years ago, and had also romped home by 13 lengths at Wincanton on this season’s reappearance a month before his non-completion in November.
Each way punt: Inca De Lafayette in the 15:00 at Taunton
READ MORE: Taunton racing tips: Best bets for Monday January 8
