BOOKMAKERS had better look out lest they become victims of a deadly strike by Boris The Spider (3.30) at Southwell today.
Two starts ago Boris The Spider inflicted a considerable amount of pain on the local layers by landing an 11-2 triumph when taking full advantage of a rain-softened surface at Ayr over a mile-and-five-furlongs.
Middleham handler Micky Hammond then opted to drop his charge in trip, not to mention trying him out for the first time on Wolverhampton's far faster all-weather track.
Ultimately it was an experiment doomed to failure. Neither was the betting public fooled beforehand as the horse drifted alarmingly in the market, effectively beaten before he had even started.
But to give Hammond his due his response has been absolutely perfect.
He has upped Boris The Spider in distance to a mile-and-and-three-quarters, and switched him to the much slower fibresand.
Using race-times as a guide, fibresand equates more or less to the testing conditions encountered by Boris The Spider at Ayr, which in addition to the extra two furlongs he must travel, will play to his principal strength, namely stamina.
From staying to sprinting, Wendy's Girl (2.30) could easily have too much speed for her rivals in the five-furlong ladbrokes.com Handicap.
Wendy's Girl only has two gears - stop and flat-out - so expect the fireworks to begin the second the stalls fly open for the £4,000 contest.
Given that Bobby Elliott's filly generally puts her cards on the table and tries to make all every time she runs, her opponents need not worry about getting a lead.
Whether or not any of them are able to collar the confirmed front-runner only time will tell, although at least her supporters can count on a decent run for their money as the selection is guaranteed to try her heart out all the way to the line.
Hat-trick seeking Larad (3.40), who has notched successive victories at Wolverhampton over the last couple of weeks, now visits Lingfield in a bid to complete a lucrative three-timer.
Unlike Wendy's Girl, Larad is inclined to play a waiting game, using his natural pace in the closing stages, rather than utilising a catch-me-if-you-can approach.
Generally speaking hold-up tactics work well at the course, therefore Larad's run-style should theoretically at least be tailor-made for Eddie Ahern's mount in the All Weather Jockeys Championship Banded Stakes.
There could be a sniff of a "handicap good thing" if Quainton Hills (2.50) can reproduce his fair chase form over hurdles at Ludlow.
Quainton Hills has a rating of 96 over fences, whereas his hurdles mark is 12lb lower at 84.
The gelding was unable to take advantage of the discrepancy at Lingfield over the smaller obstacles recently.
However, there may have been a valid excuse for that defeat since he probably wasn't quite fully wound up, and even more crucially, he made too many jumping errors.
If he has improved fitness-wise, then according to the official figures Quainton Hills has an excellent chance of sticking his head back in front.
He will be helped by Wayne Hutchinson replacing the amateur rider, James Diment, who simply couldn't get his partner to hurdle with any fluency at Lingfield.
* FOREST GUNNER maintained the challenge of Janus (Colin Woods) near the head of the Racing Post naps competition with a thrilling 7-1 all-the-way win in the Grand Sefton Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree on Saturday.
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