Southwell best bets (1540): Harry Cobden can extend champion jockey lead on Rickety Bridge
15:40 Southwell: Tri The Racing App This Afternoon Maiden Hurdle (2½ miles)
Not only is this lined up to be a showdown between the two market leaders, Long Draw and Rickety Bridge, but extra spice is added by the fact that they are ridden by Sean Bowen and Harry Cobden respectively, who are currently locking horns in a battle for the champion jockey crown.
Bowen is currently 11 wins adrift in that particular race, not helped by a six-week absence following a bad fall on Boxing Day, but he’ll fancy his chances of narrowing that gap on board Long Draw, who made a promising hurdling debut when finishing third at Taunton in late December, displaying plenty of scope for improvement.
Cobden will have similar designs as he reunites with Paul Nicholls’ Rickety Bridge after being on board for his bumper debut at Worcester in October, when he finished strongly but just missed out by a short head.
Two subsequent outings under a different rider have been less impressive, so it seems significant that Planet Sport Bet’s racing ambassador has been booked for the five-year-old’s first attempt over obstacles.
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It’s hard to make a case for any of their rivals to finish in front of the two principals (unless they falter), but with the other seven all available at a decent price, they carry decent value to make up the minor placing.
If we discount the two 200/1 outsiders, then arguably the pick of the rest in terms of value appears to be untried seven-year-old Captain’s Road, who is a winning Irish pointer making his bow under Rules for Charlie Longsdon.
It has been a while since that points success, but he might just be one to keep an eye on at a decent price, with the 10-pound allowance of claiming jockey Cian Chesters a potential advantage in Southwell’s testing conditions.
