Paul Kealy's play of the day at Newbury

2.25 Newbury

If you play the horses for courses angle there's a fair chance of getting a decent-priced winner of the Mandarin Chase at Newbury.

The Philip Hobbs-trained Zanza improved his fine record at the track when scoring at the Coral Gold Cup meeting, and while Kalooki can't boast his impressive form figures, on Racing Post Ratings three of the best four runs of his life have come at Newbury.

The last time Kalooki ran here he was below his best, but in reality he was far from disgraced when sixth of ten in the Greatwood Gold Cup as 2m4f on good ground would have been very sharp for him.

He was racing off 143 then, but after just three more runs he is down to 130 and that makes him ridiculously well handicapped on his best form.

There's obviously a reason for the drop, but after pulling up on his return, he shaped a lot better for a long way before getting tired at Wetherby at the beginning of this month, and he should strip fitter.

He won off a 10lb higher mark on December 29 last year, so his best form is far from ancient, and he can go well at a price.

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