I've been trying to work out the handicap hurdle at Ascot next Saturday.
One piece of form that stands out especially if you can excuse the first two home, (maybe they had really hard races and weren't the same after?), is the Greatwood Hurdle from 2021.
West Cork and Adagio pulled 2 lengths clear of Ordinary Joe, with Camprond in fourth, Tritonic in fifth, Glory and Fortune in sixth, Maries Rock in seventh, Botox Has in eight and Jesse Evans in ninth.
Between those 4th-9th horses you have the future Coral Cup 4th and Punchestown handicap hurdle winner Camprond in there, the future winner of this Ascot race on Saturday in Tritonic, the future winner of last seasons Betfair hurdle or whatever it's called these days, Glory and Fortune.
The seventh home, Maries Rock has won four from five races since, which include two graded mares hurdles, the eight Botox Has has won a valuable long distance handicap this season, and even the ninth home, Jesse Evans was second in a Galway Hurdle.
So as I say, it's worth putting a line through the first two horses home, and the really interesting one is the horse who has hardly raced since called No Ordinary Joe.
You'd have to take it on trust that Henderson can get him spot on for this race, but on his Greatwood hurdle form where he was noted as running very freely, well if he can settle down a bit in his race he looks a possible bet to me at 16s or thereabouts.
Tritonic is also being overlooked a bit in the betting. He won the race last year and is only 2lbs higher. This looks like it could be a hotter race than last seasons though.
I think I might back Ordinary Joe as my main bet and a saver on Tritonic.