Piper Could Go Close If On Song At Wolves

Chieftain's Choice was up near the front for a while in the Betfair Hurdle on Saturday but when push came to shove he found nothing and Newbury obviously wasn't the plan. I was obviously worried to see him drift so much in the run up to the race and he was available to back at 80s with some firms, and was even bigger on the exchanges. He is a better animal than he showed on Saturday though and it is too early to write him off. Perhaps Aintree is the target after he ran so well there last year and I am sure Kevin Frost will conjure a win out of him at some stage as the handicapper relents.

Usually I try and avoid tipping up horses early in the week as the quality of fare is invariably of a low standard. Tomorrow is no different really, and nothing appeals at either of the national hunt meetings. However, seeing as Top Pocket went so close for us at a nice price last week on the all weather I have decided to try again at Wolves on Monday.

Pipers Piping is a standing dish at Wolves, and he loves it there, especially over 7f. This 10yo is obviously no superstar, but he is a quality horse on his day at this sort of level and in over 90 career starts he has 11 wins and 20 places to his name. Of those 11 wins 8 have come at this venue, and 6 have come over course and distance. His last win came here over 7f back in June last year off a mark of 50 with Rob Hornby on board and he is back in the plate tomorrow, taking off a handy 3lb.

He ran poorly on his next four runs after that win last Summer, but he showed clear signs of returning to form here over 8.5f last time out. He finished 6th but he was only beaten by 2L off a mark of 53, and the handicapper has generously decided to drop him a pound to 52 after that run. That leaves him just 2lb above his last winning mark, and he won off 56 as recently as March 2014. In fact, he seems to like it at this time of year as he won two races in February 2010, one in 2012 and another in Feb 2014 (maybe he likes impressing the fillies around Valentines Day, the auld romantic!).

He has a decent draw in 7 and hopefully Hornby can drop him in and get him settled early. There should be plenty of pace in the race with the likes of Samlljohn and Mercury in the field and that will suit Pipers Piping who likes to come with a late run. He is currently priced up at 25/1 and dropping back down to 7f he looks worthy of a little support each way in a race that should be run to suit.

STEVOS' SELECTION-2.20 WOLVES-PIPERS PIPING E/W 25/1