Southwell Placepot tips: Tom Segal attempts to crack the £50,000 guaranteed pool

With five handicaps in the Southwell Placepot, there is a danger it could get out of hand, so some risks have to be taken.

That starts in the opening 7f handicap (3.15), in which it could be worth banking on King Of Ithaca, who has a consistent record at the track and was unlucky in a similar race last time.

The 6f handicap that follows (3.45) is wide open and a case could be made for loads. Dual course winner Ziggy's Missile is first on the list after his recent Nottingham win, while Muker is on a good mark and shaped alright on his comeback run here recently. 

There are loads of intriguing fillies in the 1m4f handicap (4.15). Overture, Pique', Russian Crescendo and Loving Look all fit that bill, but for Placepot purposes it might be worth siding with the proven fitness of good hurdler Pretending and Roger Varian's Orchard Keeper.

The three-year-olds down the bottom of the weights in the mile fillies' handicap (4.45) may be the ones to concentrate on. Waardah looked a filly to follow on her debut at Sandown last season and was tried in Listed company afterwards. She goes in alongside Bintjeddah, who showed plenty on her three runs for William Haggas as a juvenile.

Dixieland Blues is susceptible to an improver in the mile novice (5.15), but he has the best form, so he looks banker material.

The concluding 6f handicap (5.45) might be the hardest Placepot race of them all. Hammer The Hammer is the obvious one after his runaway win at the track last time, but he's drawn in stall one, so Handcuffed goes in as well for the in-form Andrew Balding.

Southwell Placepot perm

3.15
9 King Of Ithaca

3.45
3 Ziggy's Missile
6 Muker

4.15
7 Pretending
8 Orchard Keeper

4.45
7 Waardah
9 Bintjeddah

5.15
3 Dixieland Blues

5.45
1 Handcuffed
5 Hammer The Hammer

1x2x2x2x1x2 = 16 lines

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