Wincanton Placepot picks: Tom Segal with two bankers in his perm for a guaranteed £100,000 pool

The Wincanton card is a long way off the class we saw at Aintree, but there are plenty of competitive races and the Placepot will not be easy to crack.

Having said that, Paul Nicholls seldom comes away from Wincanton without a winner and, although he doesn't have many runners on the card, his Fame And Fun has obvious claims in the opening race (1.50) for jockeys in the forces. Jody Sole has a 36 per cent strike-rate when riding for the yard and he is a massive positive in races like this.

The 2m5½f handicap Hurdle (2.25) features several horses who haven't been in the best of form recently. El Muchacho is not one of those as he has been running well all season in similar races. If he repeats his third at Bangor last time, he will be hard to keep out of the frame, and the good 7lb claimer Bradley Harris has ridden 12 winners for Milton Harris this season. 

He is up in trip, though, so it's safest to stick in Hermes Boy as well. The latter has a huge chance on his fourth to Love Envoi at Sandown in December and is 2lb lower in the weights.

It could be that Jamie Snowden has a good day because his Double Click will appreciate the drop back to 2m in the first division of a weak maiden hurdle (3.00). He won't have to improve on his latest effort at Fontwell over a trip too far to hit the frame.

In the second division (3.35) Snowden saddles Jack Sprat, who hasn't achieved much so far but there was more encouragement after a wind operation last time. Joyful Kit has letters in her recent form figures rather than numbers, but she looked to be going well before unseating two starts ago and didn't seem to stay 2m5f last time. 

The other three handicaps will probably need more that one selection, although Duc De Beauchene has a lot going for him in the 3m1f handicap chase (4.10). He seldom runs a bad race and ran as well as he had done for some time at Hereford recently. 

There is no reason why he won't run his race again, and if Longshanks is brought back to life by the blinkers he wears for the first time, he would be hard to keep out of the frame as well. 

Urabamba is similar to Longshanks in that he's well handicapped and the application of cheekpieces could spark him back to life in the 1m7½f handicap chase (4.45). Even if they don't, his last run at Taunton makes him the one to beat. I would also include the bottomweight Flash Gorcombe, who got off the mark last time and has more improvement in him. 

Wincanton Placepot perm

1.50
3 Fame And Fun

2.25
6 El Muchacho
10 Hermes Boy

3.00
3 Double Click

3.35
4 Jack Sprat
7 Joyful Kit

4.10
2 Duc De Beauchene
5 Longshanks

4.45
6 Urabamba
7 Flash Gorcombe

1 x 2 x 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 lines

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