Bill Worth Watching At Chepstow

Admiral Blake tipped up at the first at Towcester, and after his priced halved in the lead up to the race it was an extremely frustrating outcome. Whether it was a genuine gamble or not we will never know, but at least horse and jockey emerged unscathed and I am sure some intensive schooling beckons for the Admiral in the next few weeks. It would be no surprise if he returned to the smaller obstacles and he is one to look out for if he gets heavy ground at Exeter or Southwell.

Tomorrow there are meetings on both sides of the Irish Sea but there are only two National Hunt meetings, at Catterick and at Chepstow. The horse I will be having a small each way bet on tomorrow is Just Bill, who goes in the 2.45 on brutal ground at Chepstow, a 23.5f class 4 novice hurdle, for Welsh trainer Evan Williams.

This 8yo son of Blueprint is a good ground point to point winner, but he didn't pull up any trees on his rules debut over course and distance on similarly desperate ground. However, he ran well for quite a long way, and if you consider it was his first run after almost 2 years off he was more than entitled to need it. He weakened very quickly after being bang there 3 out, and he was pulled up before 2 out. However, although he won his only p2p on good ground he is out of a dam that won on heavy and his pedigree suggests it should be fine.

He ran well in one of his earlier point to points opn soft ground when finishing 3rd at Dromahane, and it is this run that sparked my interest in this fella. Hacketts Folly was a half length ahead of him in 2nd that day and he has since gone close in a maiden hurdle and also got to within 15L of Don Poli in another maiden hurdle. Brandon Hill was a couple of lengths behind in 4th and he has since come out and won  a maiden hurdle and then a handicap off 122 for Tom Lacey.

Now it is a couple of years since that race at Dromahane but it has turned out to be decent form and it will be interesting to see if Just Bill is fitter than he was for his debut. Williams has opted to take 7lbs off his back with Lewis Gordon on board (6/22 for yard) and if he can repeat the form he showed in that Dromahane run he would have every chance of running into a place at Chepstow. At his current odds of 33/1 he looks worth a small interest each way in a race that doesn't look the strongest of heats.

STEVOS' SELECTION: 2.45 CHEPSTOW-JUST BILL E/W 33/1