Follow The Zeeda

The opening maiden in Thirsk is a race that Tim Easterby has traditionally done well in, and his runner today, Zeeda, looks to have a good chance of extending his decent record in the race. Easterby has won the race twice since 2008, and his last four runners have finished 4th, 3rd, 1st and 2nd. This suggests to me that this is a race that Mr Easterby likes to target and last year Zeela (same owner as today's runner) went off a short priced favourite and finished 2nd.

Zeeda made her debut over 5f at Ripon on good to soft ground last month. She was up against it from an early stage as she was bumped violently at the start from her wide draw and lost a few lengths. She showed a nice bit of pace to make ground up in the early part of the race, and David Allan was anything but forceful with her in the last furlong or so, just riding her out hands and heels and finishing fourth, behind the re-opposing Richter Scale. The fast ground should suit Zeeda today, whereas on pedigree the softer ground was always going to suit Richter Scale better on their debuts. Richter Scale had the run of the race that day as well, and it will be disappointing if Zeeda cannot reverse the form with her today granted a better start from a decent draw in stall 3 and faster ground. 

The Mick Channon filly looks the obvious danger having gone very close on debut at Bath and is respected, as is the Mark Johnston filly, although her pedigree suggests this might be a bit sharp today. At the current prices I think Zeeda definitely represents the value here and at 10/1 she should leave her debut well behind and run a big race today.  

Selection: 1.55 Thirsk    Zeeda    10/1