Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle – Ascot – Saturday 15th February

I thought the midweek ante-post business was done and dusted for WhichBookie with the 8/1 each-way pick in Saturday’s Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot, but having gone over a couple of the weekend’s races again, I think there’s angles to be explored in the Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdlet at Ascot at 2.25 also.

The market is led by three horses at this stage who are all sub-6/1, and having initially thought they were all solid, the more I thought about it the more I could find one or two reasons to potentially oppose.

Joyeux Machin caught everyone’s eye at Wetherby last time, but perhaps he’s been over-bet now. While Altobelli had a lovely set-up over course and distance last time, and will the cheekpieces work as well again on a horse who has always been a little tricky?

Impose Toi has an entry in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock Park, and if he did indeed run here would he be cherry-ripe for an owner who would be shuffling his Cheltenham Festival handicap pack, and Impose Toi would get in any handicap he likes on his current mark?

So, at 20/1 each-way with Bet365 for 4 places and widely available at a still viable 14/1, Into The Park is taken as a 1-star * ante-post selection for WhichBookie, along with the 20/1 each-way also about Tintintin with Bet365 or Ladbrokes.

Both are returning off the back of two months away from the track but given this is a valuable contest and both would need to inch up a few pounds to be considered contenders for various spring festival handicaps, it’s best to view their absence as a potential positive, as they’ll be fresher than most and enjoy the drying ground.

Into The Park progressed very nicely last season but was ultimately disappointing on seasonal debut in Chepstow’s Silver Trophy. Even allowing for the fact that he ploughed the deepest furrow on the inside of the track that day, his weakness late on was more attributed to having scoped dirty after.

A run at Exeter two months ago regained his equilibrium, and with the stable now firing on all cylinders, Into The Park can begin what could be a productive spring period off a lovely handicap mark.

Tintintin is a horse whose profile has always suggested that perhaps he may be better for a run or two, but maybe that could be just the way his autumn campaigns have fallen. Chief among the reasons for backing him is the step up to an intermediate trip for the first time, as it’s something he’s been crying out for.

Much like Into The Park, Tintintin’s stable are in better form than at any stage of the season, and so now could be the time to take advantage of 20/1 quotes about both, in a race where conditions look like being ideal.