Horse racing tips: Hour can hit the big time

Rated 90 at one point in Ireland, Just An Hour is now down 20lb in the handicap and running off top-weight in this 0-70 event for amateur riders. 

Those are the bare facts but they might not tell the whole story as, during that fall in the weights over the last six months since joining the yard,  the four-year-old has shown flashes of promise that suggests he is well capable of winning a race. Patrick Millman is one of the best amateur riders in the game and the stable rightly target these contests.

Just An Hour ran well in a similar event at Catterick last time under the same rider while cheekpieces might have livened the gelding up. With a favourable draw in stall one, he looks to have a very good chance of winning his first race in England. 

Although has won on this filly and she has run okay for him on her last four starts, her best effort came when winning under at in June and it could be significant that he is back on board now. 

Miss Bodacious went up 10lb for that success, which didn’t look excessive given her impressive manner of victory, but she hasn’t proved up to the mark and has gradually dropped down 5lb over her subsequent runs. She has started a little tardily and hung to the right, so it is perhaps no surprise that trainer Karl Burke has declared her with blinkers and a tongue tie.

A more manageable mark, headgear and De Sousa back on board are all positive indicators that make Miss Bodacious worth a bet for me. 

Warda Jamila has a curious pedigree, being by a top sprinter yet also a half-sister to her stable’s top stayer Coltrane, and after not staying a mile and half a few starts ago she seems to have settled on this 10f trip as her optimum. 

She probably ran her best race since winning at in May when third at Glorious Goodwood last time, when she was beaten just a half-length with two re-opposing rivals behind her. The handicapper has left her on the same mark of 85 and she is clearly capable of winning a race against her own sex such as this one. 

Callum Hutchinson also takes off a valuable 3lbs.