Saturday 17th December 2016

Another action-packed weekend of racing with the Long Walk Hurdle the feature race at Ascot. I don’t fancy anything strongly today from a win point of view so i've bid to find some horses that could run well at big odds.

Starting off in the feature race at 2:25, Unowwhatimeanharry will likely take all the beating and complete his 7 timer. However, his odds of 11-8 in such a competitive race does result in some EW value to be had.

Ptit Zig trained by Paul Nicholls has possibly been over looked. The French raider Alex De Larredya “2^nd favourite” beat Ptit Zig last time out but that was the selections first run for 5 months. Ptit Zig will have improved for his seasonal debut and should strip much fitter today. The time before, Ptit Zig beat Alex De Larredya. With the French horse priced at 6-1 and Ptit Zig available at 9-1, the Paul Nicholls horse looks the EW value in the race.

I’m pinning my hopes on another Paul Nicholls horse, Irish Saint EW in the 3:00.

Irish Saint ran a cracker last time out on his first start since April 2015. He travelled strongly and looked to hold a big chance before the lack of a recent run took its toll. The comeback effort was over hurdles but Irish Saint returns to chasing today and is a much better chaser than hurdler. With the cobwebs blown away and seemingly still good as he was, Irish Saint looks worth an EW bet at 8-1. Paul Nicholls has another runner in the race Le Mercurey, hopefully I’ve chosen the correct one.

Over at Haydock in the 2:40, this pick requires a huge leap of faith but I’ve had a few pounds EW on Little Jon priced at 20-1. Trained by Nigel Twiston Davies whose horses remain in very good form, Little John once rated 143 is now down to a mark of 132, he’s won off 137.

Little Jon is becoming very well handicapped and despite being beaten 31 lengths last time out he showed much more of late and only weekend out of contention after jumping the 2^nd last. Jamie Bargary comes in for the ride and takes 3lb off. Little Jon requires a leap of faith but if he returns to anything like the form of his efforts this time last year, he could go well at a juicy odds.

9-1, 8-1 and 20-1 EW selections, if these 3 come in it will certainly be a Merry Christmas. Just one big run would be very handy!