Saturday’s Each Way Play’s

The turf flat season is back this coming Saturday, and whilst much of the focus will rightly be on the Lincoln Handicap, there’s plenty of action going on elsewhere in the country. Here I pick out my three best bets away from the lower profile contests on offer.

2:40 Newbury Nigh Or Never each way @ 14/1 with BetVictor

This has tended to go to a runner with a pedigree more in tune with success on the flat in recent years. There are plenty in tis years line-up who meet that criteria, but the best of the bunch is Rebecca Curtis’s, Nigh Or Never. By Excelebration out of a Galileo mare, he would be the one for me purely on pedigree class. That’s enough to make him a bet though. His two most recent outings have however persuaded me to part with the cash. Running over two miles on soft ground on each occasion, he was doing all his best work late, suggesting that a step up in trip was very much the order of the day. He gets an additional three furlongs to play with here, and whilst the short priced favourite Oistrakh Le Noir may prove hard to beat – although he’s certainly not bombproof – Nigh Or Never looks to boast solid claims of making the frame.

2:35 Lingfield Wind Storm each way @ 12/1 with Paddy Power

Night Castle is the obvious one here for the inform Charlie Appleby having won easily last time out at Newcastle. That run came on Tapeta though and he didn’t look to pick up anywhere near so well on Kempton’s Polytrack on debut. Returning to Polytrack here and conceding weight to the field, he looks short enough at odds on. His presence in the market does mean that a few of these go off at a nice each way price though and I cant resist a punt on the Ralph Beckett runner Wind Storm. As the only filly in the field she receives lumps of weight all round. In addition she makes plenty of appeal on breeding, being by a mare who has already given us a German Classic winner. Beckett tends to do well with his fillies and at double figure odds she’s worth chancing.

6:15 Wolverhampton Ruby Cherub each way @ 66/1 with Ladbrokes

This doesn’t look a particularly strong contest even for the grade. Of those to have taken to the track to date, Ed Dunlop’s Global Art makes the most appeal on his effort over 6f on turf last term. Whilst the way in which he ran that day suggested a step up in trip ought to suit, his pedigree wouldn’t necessarily agree with that, whilst it would be doubtful that this switch to the all-weather would bring about any improvement. At a really big price have an each way investment on the Ruth Carr runner Ruby Cherub. Carr is ticking along nicely at present with a 25% strike rate in March, and this one is a half-sister to three winners. In an open race she wont have to be anything special to make the frame.