DOUBLE HANDFUL

John Shaw’s racing betting column in association with

EXCUSE me dear reader if I don’t indulge myself in a public show of back patting before I bore you with my usual nonsense. The last three bets of the day have all obliged — and even the one before those finished second.

The trio returned at odds of 11-8, 7-2 and 14-1.

It’s fair to say I have emphatically silenced my critics, especially that bloke from Strabane Golf Club who emailed me a month back to say I was the most overrated human being since Judas Iscariot won the AD31 Best Disciple Competition.

My attentions today are totally focused on making it four in a row in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. Harry Fry’s outstanding eight-year-old

UNOWHATIMEANHARRY is the one to beat and I really don’t see how he can be beaten.

It’s very difficult to pick any holes in his form given he’s won his last six starts, including the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. He was frightfully impressive on his reappearance at Newbury when decimating a strong field including Menorah, Reve De Sivola, Ballyoptic and Snow Falcon in the Long Distance

Hurdle. Unowhatimeanharry is clearly on course for a tilt at the World Hurdle next March and I’ve already placed a tidy wedge on him with Paddy Power at 7-1, a price that will contract rapidly if he wins again today. You can still get 5s and I suggest you go and get it now. Reve De Sivola can’t be dismissed with his record in this race — three wins and a runner-up spot. But he’s almost 12 now and won’t get the ground he wants. The one I’m a little wary of is Lil Rockerfeller. I was impressed with his last run at Ascot in the Coral Hurdle where he gave weight to Yanworth and was only just beaten in the last few yards. Neil King has him in good fettle and i expect him to run very well — hopefully behind Unowhatimeanharry.