Horse Racing Tips: 23rd November 2016

15:40 Wolverhampton – Berlusca @ 7/1 (each-way) & Eurystheus @ 11/1 (each-way)

The 15:40 at Wolverhampton is the only port of call on Wednesday and there are two horses who catch the eye at decent each-way prices.

David O’Meara’s Berlusca is a horse who has often thrived around Wolverhampton and off a mark of 80 could be well in here. Having won four times over C&D, the seven-year-old probably won’t need to do anything other than reproduce some of his previous form to get seriously involved.

The gelding’s C&D record makes for pleasing reading. Having run over course and distance on 28 occasions, he’s won six times and has filled the places on a further six occasions. If these stats weren’t enough, when reducing the criteria to races in Class 4 company, off a handicap rating of 80 or less, Berlusca has run five times, producing form figures of 11255. On top of this, he’s also won over C&D off marks of 82 and 84, both of which came in stronger races than this one.

December last year was the last time he contested a race off of a mark of 80 and he won (over C&D). He also went onto win at Chester off a mark of 82 after that and has since run off a higher mark in every race he’s contested, until today. This will be the first time since winning over C&D less than year ago that he’ll race off a mark of 80, and, in an event that looks less demanding than many of his previous contests, he really ought to be going well.

All in all, we’re talking about a proven performer – one who knows how to go about things around this track. At odds of 7/1, he’s definitely one to side with in this race.

Moving on to Eurystheus. Michael Appelby’s seven-year-old is another who, on some of his best form, could easily run a big race and is potentially overpriced at 11’s.

Unlike Berlusca, this horse isn’t one who’s hugely experienced on the all-weather, although he does have one piece of form that ties him in nicely with the first selection. Back in 2013 the pair both contested & C&D event. Berlusca won the race, while Eurystheus finished third. Since then, Eurystheus has run exclusively on turf, putting in several good performances in doing so.

Over the last few seasons he’s primarily been running off of handicap ratings in the mid to low 80’s. Off 77 today, in a 0-80 contest, he should go well. In fact, the last two times this horse had dropped to a mark of 77, he’s won.

In terms of distance, the gelding has only previously encountered nine and a half furlongs on two occasions – finishing 3rd both times. He may not have run over this exact trip for almost three years, but, in terms of distance, considering he has a string of decent runs to his name at both nine and ten furlongs, it should suit nicely.

Last time out he ran yet another good race to finish 5th of 18 over a mile at Newmarket. That race wasn’t all that dissimilar to today’s contest. Actually, if anything, this one looks a bit less demanding, especially in terms of depth.

When we consider that this a horse who, when racing in both races of this nature and off a handicap rating such as this, has generally always gone close then it would be no surprise to see a bold performance from him here. It’s hard to think that Eurystheus doesn’t have a race like this in him, especially off a mark of 77, and thus, at 11/1, he’s worth supporting each-way.

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