13th-Mar-2018

I am backing Mister Whitaker this morning.  It is remarkable that he got into the race, you always needed to be rated within around 4lb or 5lb of the top-rated horse to get into this race in its brief history as a 0-140 handicap.  Now as a 0-145 handicap he gets in off 137.

Mick Channon’s horse ran a big race at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day to chase home Hell’s Kitchen who did everything right, off a mark of 125.  Raised to 129 for that, he put up a career-best last time when he beat Theatre Territory and Sizing Tennessee in a two-mile-five-furlong handicap chase at Cheltenham’s January meeting. 

He wasn’t overly fluent over his fences in the back straight that day, and he was a little out to his right, but he travelled really well through his race and he appeared to win with plenty in hand, he was probably idling on the run-in, in a fast time, 0.12secs/furlong faster than Racing Post par.  That run proved too that he could handle soft ground and Cheltenham’s undulations. 

The handicapper raised him by 8lb for that to a mark of 137, but he is only six and that was just his fourth chase.  He had bundles of scope for progression.  He goes on the track and on the ground, and he gets weight from all his rivals.

MISTER WHITAKER WON (ADV 15/2, SP 13/2)