Doncaster Placepot picks: Paul Kealy has a crack at the £250,000 guaranteed pool

Placepot punters have a tricky call to make in the Brocklesby Stakes (1.50) at Doncaster's Pertemps-backed turf season opener as there are 17 unraced juveniles to choose from.

The short-priced favourite is Valadero, who certainly appeals on breeding, but is with Dominic Ffrench Davis, who is hardly renowned for training decent two-year-olds. However, it's fair to say he won't have had any as expensive as this €250,000 Amo Racing purchase.

I'd still be inclined to leave him out, though, and side with trainers with a better pedigree, as it were, for the job. Therefore the selections are Loaded Gun (Andrew Balding), Indication Call (Karl Burke) and Sankari (John Quinn).

It's a day for a big perm to a small unit stake, and in the Spring Mile (2.25), a race with surprisingly few proper mudlarks, my three would be Baltimore Boy, Harswell Duke and Titian.

El Caballo is the obvious favourite in the next (3.00), but this is specialist's ground and Fast Response, 2-2 on heavy at Doncaster, and Vadream, who loves soft ground, would be my two at bigger prices.

There are plenty who won't have a problem with conditions in the Lincoln (3.35), but I reckon the claims of Baradar and Jimi Hendrix are just as strong as those ahead of them in the betting and they will do for me.

The unbeten Poker Face could be anything in the next (4.10), but on official figures he's got only one behind him, so as he's going to take a chunk of what's left in the pool with him, he might be worth taking on. 

Tacarib Bay's best form is on soft and he is race-fit as well, so he's first on my list, while Imperial Fighter wasn't beaten far in the Vertem Futurity here in 2021 and may get back on track now he has been gelded.

Even the final maiden (4.45) is tricky, but Andrew Balding's Ribal has some of the best form and the trainer has won two of the last three runnings. Carlton, a Frankel colt bought for €350,000 as a yearling by Godolphin, may prove best of the newcomers.

Doncaster Placepot perm

1.50
8 Indication Call
9 Loaded Gun
14 Sankari

2.25
4 Baltimore Boy
11 Titian
13 Harswell Duke

3.00
10 Fast Response
11 Vadream

3.35
10 Baradar
14 Jimi Hendrix

4.10
2 Imperial Fighter
4 Tacarib Bay

4.45
3 Carlton
8 Ribal

3x3x2x2x2x2=144 lines

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