Front Running Late Date Capable of a Good Run in Perth National

The Micky Hammond trained Late Date has no easy task ahead of him in the Perth National on Friday, but I expect him to run a good race and go close, assuming that he can get into a rhythm early. The eight year old has won two of his last four races, with both of those wins coming at Sedgefield. They came over a distance of 3m2f, so the first thing he has to contend with here is an extra half a mile.

In both wins he didn’t look as though he was stopping and while he isn’t a confirmed stayer, he looks more than likely to stay, and can hopefully take them along at a slightly slower pace over this marathon trip. This race is certainly a lot tougher than those two Sedgefield wins, he is stepping up in class here and going against better opponents.

He also has five pound extra to carry compared to his most recent success, something else that will make it tough. However, all of that is factored into his price here, and at an each way price he is certainly worth chancing in my opinion.

The key to him is getting into a rhythm early. We saw him do that at Sedgefield last time out, we need to see the same again. He will have more horses in behind looking to take him on that he did in that five runner race, but they are going to have to be good to pass this one, and I think Late Date is certainly worth following again on Friday.