TimeformBlog

Race two at Carlisle is our first port of call on Thursday afternoon and Cape Dutch can follow up an impressive win at Hexham last month with another victory in what looks an interesting novice hurdle at 14:20. Both of his two starts so far have both been over two miles and Cape Dutch demonstrated promise on the first of those when finishing fourth to Bullet Man at Huntingdon, staying on after being not unduly knocked about. He again stayed on strongly when getting off the mark at Hexham last time and, now upped in trip, promises to go well again in the hands of promising conditional Mr J Quinlan.

Aikman has race fitness under his belt after an encouraging victory in an minor hurdle at Kelso just over two weeks ago and he can make that count on his chase debut this afternoon (17:00). Aikman enjoyed a solid novice career over hurdles last year and ran his best race when seventh in the Neptune Investment Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, faring about as well as could have been expected in the face of a stiffish task. He is usually at his best when allowed to dominate, which may not be the case in this contest, but he should have the quality to get his novice chasing career off to a good start before going on to bigger and better things across. He is also one of Timeform's 'Fifty To Follow' this season!

Vimiero's luck, or rather lack of it, has to change sooner rather than later and he can record his first win this evening in what admittedly looks to be a competitive handicap at Wolverhampton (18:10). Vimiero brings a consistent level of form with him into the race, form which should see him go close, and with the added possibility of further improvement now upped to a mile and a half and booking of Jamie Spencer, he could be very dangerous.

Back Cape Dutch @ 2.9 in the 14:20 at Carlisle
Back Aikman @ 2.96 in the 17:00 at Carlisle
Back Vimiero @ 3.65 in the 18:10 at Wolverhampton

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