Placepot Pointers for Leicester: Lickpenny Larry looks worth risking

Leicester is Wednesday’s venue for the Tote’s Placepot Insurance offer, with money back up to £10, if you are eliminated in the first leg.

Get past the first leg though and you could be in with a chance of landing a share of a big pool.

Want a hand finding those horses to follow? Read on for today’s Placepot Pointers.

While we shouldn’t have any worries about the card being on, it’s going to be hard work for those who take their chance at Leicester on Wednesday. The Chase course is officially soft, while it is heavy on the hurdles track and rain is forecast all day, so it’s unlikely to get any easier.

Adrian Heskin has only taken one ride at Leicester since the start of 2018, but prior to that outing had a pretty useful hit rate for Placepot purposes. With 12 wins or places in 18 outings at the East Midlands track he clearly makes his rare visits count.

He takes a sole ride on Wednesday on board Alan King’s SHESHOON SONNY (Leg 1 - 13:10) and can improve that record further. Heskin was on board when the gelding finished third behind the subsequent Listed placed Mister Coffey two starts back, finishing ahead of a next time out winner. The horse looks to have the scope to match and even further his career over fences so isn’t one to take lightly on chase debut.

He’s got a penalty to carry but it would be disappointing if Olly Murphy’s NO RISK DES FLOS (Leg 6 - 15:40) couldn’t bring home the bacon for those that make it to the final leg. Having finished fourth behind the smart Dusart and subsequent Grade 3 Soaring Glory, he got off the mark over hurdles at the second time of asking at Uttoxeter.

He travelled well and picked up nicely when asked by Aidan Coleman to run down the long time leader in ground which will be similar to what he faces here. A half-brother to the useful Vision Des Flos, he looks like he’s on an upward trajectory and should take the finale.

The fifth leg of the day looks particularly open and one that it will probably pay to have multiple runners going for you. One that might be under-picked and thus being a value pick is LICKPENNY LARRY for Tom Gretton.

The 10yo is susceptible to the odd stinker every now and then but the fact that he has gradually built on two poor runs this season to finish second last time at Warwick suggests he might just need a couple of pipe-openers in his advancing years. He’s been nudged up a pound in the weights for that run but did hit the frame twice off marks of 98 and 102, including here at Leicester, last term, so can’t be ruled out.

While Leg 5 looks tough, the preceding race (14:40) looks just as tricky with six or seven of them near the top of the market looking to have big claims of a place.

For our suggested perm we’re siding with two, led by Kim Bailey’s CHAZZA for whom things didn’t go to plan when stepped up in trip at Ascot last time. He reverts to a course and distance over which he got within a length of Breffniboy two starts back, with that horse now rated 14lb higher. In the first two in all three of his other completed starts over hurdles, he had looked very reliable prior to the disappointment last time, so it might be worth filing that under ‘too bad to be true’.

Supporting him in our Placepot is FIL D'ARIANE who was a course and distance winner last time out for Tom Symonds. He kept on well that day for his handicap debut and seasonal reappearance. While the form hasn't really been upheld and he's been raised 6lbs by the handicapper, there's plenty of reasons to believe that we haven't seen the best of him yet.

Leg 1: Cilaos Grace, Sheshoon Sonny

Leg 2: Mizen Master

Leg 3: Zambella

Leg 4: Chazza, Fil D'Ariane

Leg 5: Relkadam, Overworkdunderpaid, Lickpenny Larry

Leg 6: No Risk Des Flos

2 x 1 x 1 x 2 x 3 x 1 = 12 lines