TimeformBlog

Le Roi Rouge (13:20) can get us off to a good start after Hexham passed an 8am inspection this morning. The soft conditions and warning of wild weather should inconvenience racegoers far more than the Ferdy Murphy-trained nine year-old, who has gained all three of his British wins on ground described as soft or heavy, whilst his four wins in France all came on testing ground, too. Le Roi Rouge has run respectably on both starts this season, but his latest fourth at Wetherby coming over a distance that stretched his stamina. Today he faces a far more suitable trip and, with doubts surrounding the majority of his rivals, Le Roi Rouge looks to be a major player having dropped to a more than tempting mark.

More often than not it pays to keep it simple and, simply put, Kiss a Prince looks to have an excellent chance in Lingfield's 14:40. Kiss a Prince's five career wins have all come at this track, three of which have come off a higher mark than he races off today, and his fourth last time over a furlong further than faced today suggested that he was returning to form. Racing wide throughout that day, he began to tire in the final furlong, so the slight drop in trip is a definite plus. Like the first selection, Kiss a Prince is well treated, his latest success (last December) coming off a 7lb higher mark, and the Dean Ivory-trained five year-old looks to have an outstanding chance of gaining a sixth career victory on the Lingfield polytrack.

The final race in Britain on Wednesday is the 19:20 at Kempton, where Young Simon looks to be coming back to the boil for in-form trainer George Margarson. Margarson has hit the mark with 25% of his runners in November, and will be hoping that Young Simon can continue the run. He has shaped as if returning to form on his last two starts, both at Wolverhampton, badly hampered when in the process of running a solid race on the first occasion before being forced to race very wide on entering the straight on his latest start, which cost him a chance of challenging the winner. A low draw at Kempton is the place to be, and Young Simon looks to have strong claims of landing an arguably overdue victory.

Back Le Roi Rouge @ 3.6 in the 13:20 at Hexham
Back Kiss a Prince @ 4.8 in the 14:40 at Lingfield
Back Young Simon @ 7.0 in the 19:20 at Kempton

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