Sunday afternoon, Plumpton. Seven races on a Good surface at the end of a long National Hunt season that is gently winding itself down towards the summer, and just the one bet today from me.
The Curragh is the better card on paper — a proper Sunday Flat meeting across the water and a decent watching brief for anyone with an eye on the early-season three-year-olds. I had a long look and couldn’t find a bet I was happy to press, so I’m leaving it as just that, a watching brief. Plumpton is where the one bet lives. Nothing flashy, a small-field Class 5 chase headlining at 2:17, a handicap hurdle or two, the usual Sussex Sunday rhythm. I’ve gone through it three times and the one that keeps coming back is the same horse who keeps coming back here himself.
Disputed lead at fast pace, left in outright lead 8th, headed before 10th, lost position before 4 out
ALTO ALTO has won five races for Chris Gordon and all five have come here at Plumpton. Not four of five, not four and a tidy second — all five. The trainer himself put it about as plainly as it can be put after the last one: he saves his best for this venue, a bit like his trainer really. Bought for 21,000 guineas, he has paid for himself many times over on these undulations.
What nudges it over the line for me today is the grade. When Gordon spoke after that last win he said straight out there isn’t really anything suitable coming up for a while — a Fontwell 0-120 was mentioned, a couple of other options, and the line that matters: we’ll keep him in as low a grade as we possibly can. This is that race. A 0-105 Conditional Jockeys’ handicap chase, his own mark of 105 in a field where the next rated runner is Line Of Descent on 96 and the rest trail off to 98, 86 and 78. On the figures alone he is clear best in the race.
The Racing Post’s notebook line is fair and worth holding up to the light rather than waving away — all five wins have been gained here but arrives under a cloud; yard back among the winners. The stable form angle is a real one and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. But Gordon was specific about this horse and this type of race, and the grade drop here is significant next to his last effort. Gordon put it nicely too: some horses throw the towel in when the race is too tough; when they’ve got a scent of victory, like Alto had here last time, it’s very different. He’s very much one of those horses — his words, and the form backs them up.
13/2 (Bet365) is a bigger price than I’d have expected when I first looked. The market may be leaning on the stable-form caveat a touch too heavily for a course specialist on the lowest mark he’s had for a while. 2 points Win.
Others to NoteAlto Alto is not the only Chris Gordon runner on the card today. The yard does remarkably well here, and there are four more to keep an eye on: Khalkeau Spigao (2:52, Tom Cannon, 28/1) and Moon Monarch (2:52, Harry Cobden, 9/1) in the same race, Answer That (4:37, Tom Cannon, 10/1), and Goodwin (5:12, Tom Cannon, 11/2). Elsewhere at Plumpton, Double Powerful in the 3:27 is the other one I have a small note against. Across to Stratford, La Marquise in the 3:08 and Largy Pearl in the 5:25, the latter worth a look on Barton Snow form. Then the two at the Curragh that kept me honest on the watching-brief line earlier — Stag Night in the 1:05, interesting on 5f form with a marked drop in grade, and Twain in the 3:35, back from a long layoff due to niggling injuries and treating this as a prep for the Lockinge at Newbury.
Best of luck to all getting involved. Be Lucky!
