Junior Can Jump To It

It may be Arc day, but the Longchamp card is a nightmare for punters, and many of the races at the Parisian track have a habit of resembling bar-room brawls. For what it's worth, I think Treve will overcome a seemingly awkward draw in the big one, and that Spirit Quartz may surprise some better fancied sprinters in the Abbaye, but it's to Kelso I'm going for my main bet.

Presenting Junior looks nap material in the staying handicap chase at the Borders venue (16:15), for all the new layout makes the test a little sharper than it was. Martin Todhunter's charge won a modest affair at Hexham in June on just his third chase start, and showed much improved form when wearing down Oh Right at Cartmel (2m5f) last time, with the pair pulling sixteen lengths clear of the third in what had looked a closely-knit contest. The 6-y-o is a sound jumper who remains completely unexposed as a staying chaser, and will improve considerably in the coming months, so can be expected to take this prize on the way to considerably better things. 

Chicago Outfit looks a danger on his latest second to Amuse Me at Sedgefield, but that race rather fell apart, and the winner was beaten out of sight next time. Winter Alchemy would be a bigger threat as long as his latest effort (looked amiss over hurdles) was forgiven, but the best forecast option in the contest is the consistent, if limited Solway Dornal, and I'll be topping up my win bet with an exacta.

In the following contest, Sendiym will rightly be popular as he bids to follow up a recent win over fences, and the decision to switch to the smaller obstacles is shrewd on the face of it, as Dianne Sayer's gelding can race off the same mark as when an easy winner at Sedgefield. He is of similar merit in this discipline, and like so many from the yard, has thrived of late, going like the winner from a long way out last time, and looking to relish the task in hand. He's another who looks capable of winning at a better level than this lowly company, and is preferred to the unexposed Mister Mistopheles, who looks by far the biggest danger on paper, with the other a fairly motley bunch on balance.

Recommendations:

Both at Kelso

Back Presenting Junior @ 3.4 in the 16:15 (NAP)

Back Sendiym @ 3.1 in the 16:45 (NB)