By Bill Esdaile
POOR old Harry Fry is suffering from a bit of a bout of seconditis at present.
Enhanced by hitting the crossbar three times with four runners at Cheltenham last weekend, his silver medal strike-rate now stands at 31 per cent for the season.
Whether or not ALTOBELLI is the horse to buck the trend remains to be seen, but he can certainly make the frame in this Saturday’s Betfair Exchange Trophy (3.35pm) at Ascot, a race which has been well-targeted by Fry over the years.
He’s saddled a winner and four placed horses in the race since 2013, and this progressive-looking five-year-old, who ran a massive race to finish second over course and distance on his reappearance, makes plenty of appeal at 7/1 with four places on offer across the board.
Connections will have had this return to Berkshire in mind for a while, and they received a nice confidence booster when the third from that last race went on to finish runner-up in the Gerry Fielden.
He’s a hurdler to keep a very close eye on this season and Saturday could be his day.
Earlier on the same card, ultra-consistent GIT MAKER looks to extend his record of six wins and two seconds from nine runs in the Howden Silver Cup (3.00pm).
The horse he beat last time out at Lingfield, stablemate Super Survivor, is vying for Welsh National favouritism at 6/1, so the general 8/1 about Git Maker here looks worth snapping up.
He’s unbeaten in three starts since stepping up to three miles and could well make up into a Graded staying chaser as the season progresses.
POINTERS
Git Maker 3.00pm Ascot (Saturday)
Altobelli 3.35pm Ascot (Saturday)
