RACING boff Gaurav Chaddah (@Gchaddahjourno) shares his thoughts on the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate, the fifth race on Day 3.
Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate | Thursday 14th March 2019, 16:10 | ITV1
This has been a race to favour horses towards the bottom of the betting, with horses at the top of the market having a rather poor record – 17 of the last 19 winners have arrived from outside the top four in the market.
Janika (6/1) with Paddy Power heads the market and it is easy to see why, having ran with credit on his two starts for Nicky Henderson so far. He was beaten by Hells Kitchen at Ascot in December where he was left too much to do and was just edge off here last time by Siruh Du Lac (15/2 Unibet) and those two could have it between them again but there seems more value towards the bottom of the betting.
Eamon An Cnoic (20/1 William Hill) represents David Pipe who has a good record in this race, winning it five times in the last 17 years and will enjoy the soft ground that is forecast. He won well at Chepstow last time, beating a good horse of Paul Nichols, and was fifth here in November in the BetVictor Gold Cup and I think should be able to at least run on into a place.
The Paul Nichols-trained Modus (20/1 Bet Victor) also enjoys Cheltenham, having finished sixth in the 2017 Coral Cup and a winner here at the November meeting. The soft ground should be no problem with him having form across all goings, and arrives here off only a pound higher than his November win, he looks potentially well handicapped and should run rather well.
Best Bets
Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate – Eamon An Cnoic each-way (20/1 William Hill)
Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate – Modus each-way (20/1 Bet Victor)
