Market Rasen best each-way bet (1510): Baron De Midleton poised to bounce back at tidy odds

15:10 Market Rasen: Come Celebrate With Us Handicap Hurdle (2 miles 4 ½ furlongs)  

If the race runs exactly to the form book then Fergal O’Brien’s Charles St will take some beating. The five year-old finished last season with four straight second places, and after another near miss at Ludlow in October, he finally broke his duck over this course and distance two months ago.

He will be expected to go well again, although French raider Homme D’Un Soir looks likely to have a big say after a useful third place in a 14-runner handicap on his return to smaller obstacles at Doncaster last month.

The trio of market leaders is made up by Pam Sly’s Haafapiece, who was last seen being pulled up in heavy ground at Wetherby in November, but the 11-year-old’s subsequent break could well have freshened up his old legs enough to recapture the form that had seen him finish second of nine at the same venue just two weeks earlier.

The fact that several bookmakers are paying out on three places for this seven-runner handicap has attracted the interest of Tipstrr’s each-way specialists, with a majority happy to take a chance with another old-timer, Baron De Midleton.

Suggested best bet: Baron De Middleton each-way in the 15:10 at Market Rasen

There has to be a question mark over the 11-year-old after he bled on his final outing of last season and was then pulled up on his two appearances this term, most recently at Cheltenham’s December meeting.

It stands to reason that trainer Brian Ellison and his connections would not be putting their veteran out again if there was anything too much wrong, and if they have got him back in good enough shape to complete, then he could well make a nonsense of his double-digit price, as he returned numbers of 12211 in his five outings prior to his bleed last season.

Despite still carrying top weight, he is 12 pounds better off in the handicap than for his most recent Cheltenham run, and the seven-pound claim of William Maggs drops his mark down to the lowest it has been since the first of last season’s victories.

Incidentally, Maggs has made the frame in all of his four career rides at Market Rasen, winning three of them, so it might prove significant that this is his only ride of the day, and he will be looking to add to that tally if Baron de Midleton is fit enough to make it all the way round. 

 

• Tip advised by Footstar on Tipstrr

 

READ MORE: Market Rasen racing tips: Best bets for Tuesday January 9