Katebird Looks to Have a Strong Chance in Weak Market Rasen Handicap

Five year old Katebird is 0 from 9 over hurdles in her career so far, but on Wednesday at Market Rasen she faces her easiest task to day when she takes part in the handicap hurdle at 4:45. This race is a very weak one for the grade, and pretty much every opponent she faces has to bounce back from running poorly recently, whereas Katebird ran creditably on her last outing at Leicester.

She looks close enough to winning, and on top of that she will have the assistance of first time headgear in this race, to sharpen her up and get the last little bit of improvement out of her. She probably won’t need that, but it will certainly help and only adds to her strong case for winning the race.

Oscar Nomination looks to be the main threat to her, but he has been well beaten in both of his starts in the UK so far, and although handicapping may help him, he has shown nothing to get us excited about his prospects. When you see that he is the second favourite, it tells you all you need to know about the rest of them.

This is one that simply revolves around the favourite, and she looks to have a glaringly obvious chance of taking this prize and winning for the first time over hurdles. A repeat of her third at Leicester last time out would be enough to win this weak race, and that is without any improvement from the first time headgear. That only strengthens her case, and is another reason why she is the best bet on the card at the Lincolnshire venue on Wednesday afternoon.