Back Boots And Spurs at Southwell

Scott Dixon’s eight-year-old charge is back in good form

BOOTS AND SPURS is back in good form and looks sure to run his race in the Sunbets Handicap at Southwell.

Trained by Scott Dixon, Boots And Spurs is now eight and has plenty of miles on the clock, but he has won his fair share of races.

He is the sort of year-round horse an owner can only dream about, yet looking at his mark on the all-weather compared to the turf, he looks extremely well-in for this race.

Having won at Ripon in June off 78, he struggled with marks in the 80s thereafter before he dropped back to 77 and won again at Catterick in October, going close again off 81 on his return there last time out.

Given the disparity between his two ratings, he is almost a stone lower for this and while he is not as good on the Fibresand, he did win on it a couple of years ago and the excellent Jamie Gormley gets a good tune out of him.

Dixon’s NELLIE’S DANCER will surely never have a better chance of getting off the mark than in the Betway Maiden Stakes.

While she has only limited ability, that comment also certainly applies to her rivals here.

Nicola Currie is making the news for the right reasons and she teams up with Richard Hughes’ THE BIG LAD in the Betway Apprentice Classified Claiming Stakes.

Second in a claimer at Windsor last time out, he runs off the same mark here.

The most competitive race of the day at Kempton is the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle, a qualifier for the Final at Cheltenham in March, and Ben Pauling’s LE BREUIL looks interesting.

He won two out of four last season and Pauling could not hide the regard in which he held him, so much so he threw him in at the deep end in Grade One company at Aintree.

That run was simply too bad to be true – there is a chance it all just came too soon for him – but as a result the handicapper could not react.

Reappearing this season off a mark of 139, he should be able to do some damage against plenty of exposed rivals.

SELECTIONS

KEMPTON: 12.50 Irish Prophecy, 1.20 Full, 1.50 Earth Storm, 2.25 Give Me A Copper, 2.55 Le Breuil, 3.30 Whisper, 4.00 Magic Dancer.

SOUTHWELL: 12.40 Swiss Vinnare, 1.10 Hurricane Hollow, 1.40 Bold Spirit, 2.15 BOOTS AND SPURS (NAP), 2.45 Nellie’s Dancer, 3.20 The Big Lad, 3.50 Our Place In Loule.

DOUBLE: Boots And Spurs and Le Breuil.

The Prof at Southwell Best bet: LINE OF BEAUTY (12.40). Each-way double: MEDICI MOON (2.15) and VROOM (3.20).