Summer Plate Tips: Winning machine can keep momentum rolling
The summer jumps calendar hosts one of its biggest days on Saturday as the Summer Plate is battled for at Market Rasen. For the first time ever a winner went back to back in 2022, with Francky Du Berlais becoming the only two-time winner of the valuable handicap prize. He's back for more in 2023, but Billy Grimshaw is taking him on...
The obvious place to start is the expected favourite and history hunting Francky Du Berlais, who was all heart to win a second Summer Plate last season. A lot of these summer jumps horses are real specialists in their field and despite Francky Du Berlais being easily outclassed throughout the winter, that should not put supporters off. As was exemplified last year, one thing this horse will do is give everything in a battle and even at the age of ten he will be hard to kick out of the frame.
The same can be said for the horse he had the ding dong battle up the straight with in La Domaniale for JP, Jonjo and Jonjo Jr. At the age of six last season she gave a brilliant account of himself and looked for all the world the winner jumping the last. She even seemed to have the measure of the 2021 hero as they went for home, with the mare bagging the rail in what looked like a race winning move. The pair were a fair bit clear of the rest of the field and if forced to bet at the top of the market I would back Jonjo's charge to reverse the form, purely on the age factor.
Tadree likes to blast off in his races and the nine year old will certainly have a pilot not averse to a front-running ride in Sam Twiston-Davies. Some of STD's best wins in his career have come from the front (none more so than The Real Whacker at Cheltenham this year) and I think this jockey booking should see the horse bounce back to something like his best after two awful efforts so far this summer at the track. I'd expect him to set an honest pace throughout the race and wouldn't entirely rule out him springing a surprise, but the selection has far more in his favour.
The horse to carry my cash is GLOIRE D'ATHON, whohas been reborn since joining the fledgling yard of Sarah Humphrey and were he to win this valuable pot, the trainer has admitted it would be the best day of her training career to date. Safe to say he will be primed for the job then! His form was patchy at best before making the switch to join Humphrey, but the application of the hood and a change of scenery seems to have worked the oracle as now he is rated 153 and comes here on the back of five wins from his last six runs. Taking on a horse in form like this is dangerous and I am convinced he's not quite done yet.
Of the rest of the field there are a few lurking but in truth if the winner doesn't come from the top of the market I'd be surprised. Presentandcounting and Killer Clown seem like they have been around forever but are still unbelievably only nine, and the latter would get my vote in a match bet although they are hardly crying out to be backed after their last few performances. Courtland for Peter Bowen has been in good form of late himself racking up a hat-trick so is respected and I can see him attracting plenty of on the day money with form figures of 1-1-1. Finally, Harry Cobden is a jockey I rate unbelievably highly and although his mount Born Famous looks to have a massive job on here, Ian Jardine is a shrewd operator so he is another to watch in the market before the off.
