PADDOCKS PATENT (MONDAY)

16:00 Windsor A sixteen runner, 6f handicap sprint with many chances – reflected by odds of 5/1 to 20/1 encompassing the whole field. Therefore, It may sound slightly strange that my selection once won over 1m 4f and was priced up for the Derby! Gambit has certainly proved something of an enigma. Always highly regarded by Tom Dascombe, the 3yo colt absolutely scooted up in that 12f race at Wolverhampton back in March. So to say he has underachieved since then is an understatement. Failing to beat a horse home in his next two starts, Dascombe took drastic action and reverted to sprint distances. The result has been steady, if unspectacular improvement at class 3 and most recently, class 4 level. His handicap mark has continued to slip and off 80, some 8lbs lower than his handicap debut, Gambit looks primed to regain the winning thread. Despite his flirtation with middle distances at the beginning of his career, he certainly has enough dash to make his present felt over 6f and at current odds of 12/1, looks a good e/w bet. Gambit (E/W)

16:30 Windsor Sennockian Star has been knocking on the door of a well deserved win since the middle of summer. Time and again this admirably consistent 6yo gelding has gone down gamely only for the handicapper to choose not to relent on his official mark. His last two efforts, in a class higher than his current running and over a distance longer than ideal, have finally forced some change out of his rating. A drop of 1lb may not sound like a great deal but if we consider Sennockian Star only went down by 1l, a short head and 1l 3/4 respectively when last running over his favoured trip and class, it may prove crucial. None of the opposing nine runners arrive in great form and at 5/1 I am hopeful Sennockian Star signs off a busy season on a high. Sennockian Star (WIN)

17:20 Salisbury An intriguing twelve runner, 1m6f handicap to round off the day at Salisbury. I am going to side with a colt that has spent quite a lot of time off the track over the past year but has real potential. Argus announced himself onto the middle distance scene last year with three wins from his first five starts. Trainer Ralph Beckett was full of praise for the colt’s game attitude and was hopeful he would develop into a stakes performer. However, since the turn of the year we have only seen two rather low key and mediocre performances from the Qatar racing owned 4yo. It may well be that the reoccurrence of some nagging foot problems have meant that the right type of race with some forgiving ground underfoot was hard to come by. In any case with only seven career starts to his name, it is still way too early to write off Argus. The combination of good to soft ground, a drop in grade and a step up in distance maybe the perfect mix to get this one time expensive 400,000 gns yearling back on track. Argus (WIN)

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