Horse Racing Tips: Paul Jacobs’ value plays across the tracks on Sunday

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Paul Jacobs’ Sunday racing tips

14:15 Curragh – Sophie’s Star
14:45 Curragh – Piz Badile
15:10 Fontwell – Pisgah Pike
15:55 Uttoxeter – Jacamar

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

14:15 Curragh – Sophie’s Star

It will be interesting to see if course and distance winner, Tooprofitable, is well backed on his return to action following a 203 day break. If he is a positive in the market place then I may well have a saver on him along with a combination forecast/tricast with the selection and the well weighted Transcendental. But my pick Sophie’s Star smacks of value here in a race which may not be as competitive as the numbers would suggest.

Second to last week’s Group winner, Ladies Church, in the Marwell Stakes as a juvenile, she then ran a cracking close up fourth to Guilded in the Listed Land O’Burns at Ayr last season when just weakening inside the final 75 yards. Since then she has been transferred from Roger Fell to Denise Foster and ran a race full of promise over six furlongs at Naas on her comeback and debut for the yard. Now down to a rating of 81, if she retains most of her talent, I fancy she could lead this lot a merry dance and I am hopeful she will hit the four at the very least.

14:45 Curragh – Piz Badile

I could easily be barking up the wrong tree here, but I think that there are negatives about all the market leaders here in a cracking renewal of the Tattersalls Gold Cup. Bay Bridge for me is a much better horse with some give, Luxembourg was hugely underwhelming on his seasonal debut and Vadeni ran like an absolute drain on his seasonal opener in the Prix Ganay.  On the law of averages you would expect either of the last two to probably bounce back, but at a huge price I think that the Donnacha O’Brien charge Piz Badile is well worth chancing.

All of his best figures have come on a sound surface, so I am quite happy to write off his opening salvo in the Mooresbridge Stakes over course and distance on very testing ground at the beginning of the month. A game winner of the Ballysax Stakes last year, I always thought that a mile and a half just pushed him to the limit and that a well run 10f event would see him in his true light……so this is the ultimate test to put my theory through the mill!

15:10 Fontwell – Pisgah Pike

This looks the trickiest race on the card, but most of the seven acceptors are probably in the handicapper’s pocket with the exception of the lightly raced bottom weight Estacas and my selection. The former showed the benefit of a second wind operation when readily beating good yardstick The Choirmaster by two lengths off a mark of 104 and a 7lbs penalty may not stop here. He ran through the line very strongly that day and the step up to two and a half miles, both on style of running and breeding gives him a major chance.

However, I am going to take a chance on the Jamie Snowden rep Pisgah Pike despite it being his first run back from a similar procedure. The eight-year-old is far from being overly raced with just 20 runs under rules on his CV and after winning from a mark of 128, he couldn’t handle hitting the 130 barrier and above, never mind having problems with his breathing. This is a grade he should be doing some real damage in and I am only really gambling on that one factor of him giving 100% after that procedure.

15:55 Uttoxeter – Jacamar

After running down the field in both the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown Park, this represents a sharp drop in both grade and distance for the classy Tea Clipper and as long as he is not taken off his feet early doors, the top weight should be in the mix. At the other end of the list Walk In Clover could well take the necessary step forward he needs here to continue his winning run, while Quid Pro Quo is a work in progress still over the larger obstacles and has potential, but I just favour the selection Jacamar who returns to fences after a diabolical run over hurdles at Aintree nine days ago.

I am willing to forgive him that run along with his two previous starts over fences at Plumpton and Kempton where the ground would have been way too soft for him. Back on a sound surface and back down to a very realistic mark of just 125, a clear round of jumping should see the eight-year-old go very close getting lumps of weight from Tea Clipper.

Sunday racing tips

14:15 Curragh – Sophie’s Star
14:45 Curragh – Piz Badile
15:10 Fontwell – Pisgah Pike
15:55 Uttoxeter – Jacamar

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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