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Easy pick for me this term. As my regular readers will be aware I’ve been raving on about Mr Henderson’s COCKTAILS AT DAWN for this heat since last Summer and feel he has a good chance if granted normal luck. Ignore his form since the Topham last season as its all been about getting him qualified, reducing his perch and getting him ‘prepped’ for the 2017 renewal. Smoke and mirrors and all that. In fact you could say the only blemish since that race was in the ‘Betbright Chase’ when he fell early on. That necessitated a trip to the old Cheltenham Festival to give the old boy ‘a blow’, ‘to allow air to get in the lungs’, ‘have a warm up’, ‘get tuned up’. Choose whichever phrase you want but they all amount to the same thing – getting Cocktails At Dawn primed for the race of his life. Go back far enough and the old boy has some tremendous form over the big ‘uns to his name such as giving weight and a beating to Native River and Blaklion and turning a competitive Sandown Handicap into a procession when he bolted up by 26 lengths! On either of those efforts Cocktails At Dawn is extremely well perched in the handicap. The Stewards have had their eye on the horse for a while and I think they are of the opinion that something is ‘occuring’ but have been powerless to prevent him being handicapped as low as 145. It should be noted though that they have twice enquired into Cocktails At Dawn’s running and on a further couple of occasions sought explanations from the trainer. At the time of writing Cocktails at Dawn can be backed at 100/1 with the each-way terms of first 5. I would recommend this, pilgrims, I really, really would. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more…
I ended up with seven, Pleasant Company, Ucello Conti, Rogue Angel, Measureofmydreams, Thunder And Roses, Roi Des Francs and Wounded Warrior. But in the interests of being a bit fairer, I whittled it down to three, which means one of the other four will win. Ucello Conti. 20-1. Rogue Angel. 33-1. Roi Des Francs. 66-1.
It's not silly if you manage to find the winner. Unless, that is, you back the winner and still manage to lose on the race. Which I have done before in large handicaps.
I put him up after the weights were published and see no reason to desert him - Definitly Red. Best 12/1 shot in the race for years.
