Paul Ferguson has two selections for us on Thursday; Purple Bay in the Taunton 4.50 and Festival Theatre in the Kempton 7.40. Compare odds and bet.
With two winners from his last 11 runners and a couple of placed horses at Aintree on Grand National day, John Ferguson clearly has his string in fine order and he is fancied to land the 2m1f handicap hurdle at Taunton on Thursday, with top-weight Purple Bay (4:50).
A smart bumper performer last season, the five-year-old is two from four over hurdles and is just 3lbs higher than when runner-up in what looked a stronger handicap at Doncaster, when last sighted in mid-December.
The son of Dubawi prefers decent ground, which is probably why we haven’t seen him for 117 days and he returns today wearing the first time hood. I expect he will be popular this morning and will go off a little shorter.
At Kempton, Sir Michael Stoute’s Festival Theatre (7:40) is taken to land the Follow @BetVictorRacing On Twitter Handicap under Ryan Moore.
Another top-weight, the Danehill Dancer colt won a maiden here last August and holds entries in the Dante at York and the Derby in June, so is clearly well thought of by his powerful connections.
They will no doubt be disappointed if he can’t take this off an opening mark of 85 and he was trading at 5/4 with Coral overnight.
Thursday’s selections:
4:50 Taunton: Purple Bay; 9/4 William Hill
7:40 Kempton: Festival Theatre; 5/4 Coral
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