Windsor best bet: Course specialist Grey Fox poised to pounce, Valkyrian worth a look
- John Fearn
- 3 June 2024
Windsor’s usual Monday night card concludes with this tasty-looking one-mile handicap that has a few likely contenders looking to build on their good record at the Berkshire course.
20:45 Windsor: Download the Racecourse App Raceday Ready Handicap (1 mile 31 yards)
Working from the bottom of the betting upwards, outsider Ring Of Light might be ready to shine brighter than his two recent outings might suggest, separated as they were by a 17-month break since he completed a hat-trick of all-weather wins in the autumn of 2022.
Desfondado might also be capable of defying his odds under Hollie Doyle, but arguably a more realistic option of making the four available each-way places is former course-and-distance winner Valkyrian, who is pitched straight in under top weight following a seven-month break.
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Jamie Osborne’s four-year-old won over this very trip in similar conditions this time last year and landed another blow at Leicester four months later, before his season wound down with a handful of less inspiring all-weather outings.
He is reunited with usual rider Saffie Osborne, who stirred him to both of last year’s victories and arrives fresh from another 8/1 success at Nottingham on Sunday.
Each-way punt: Valkyrian in the 20:45 at Windsor
- Tip advised by Model Man on Tipstrr
For any of those less-fancied options to win, they will need some help from those at the top of the betting, where Intercessor, Siam Fox and Racing Demon all hold legitimate claims of being in the mix.
Just getting our final nod, however, is the tentative favourite, Grey Fox, who looks good value at a readily available 9/2 in what looks to be a weak market.
Emma Lavelle’s three-year-old grey is a three-time course-distance winner, albeit spread across the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, while last season was something of a near-miss let-down made up of seven winless attempts.
Best bet: Grey Fox in the 20:45 at Windsor
He returned to action at this venue in April, blowing away seven months of cobwebs with a seventh-of-eight finish in what was a much higher-class 0-85 handicap on unsuitably soft ground.
He looked much more at home at Newbury last time out 17 days ago, when the better going saw him get the better of a dozen 0-75 rivals, including the re-opposing Darvel who was almost three lengths adrift in third.
That was on improving good conditions, while all of Grey Fox’s previous four wins came on the same good-to-firm ground that he will find at Windsor on Monday night, so in the capable hands of in-form Charles Bishop, he is expected to give another good account here.
- Tip advised by EW Shark Bets on Tipstrr
