Paul Kealy's play of the day at Ascot
Moveit Like Minnie
It can't be often a Grade 2 winner will get to start life in handicaps on a mark as low as 124, but that's the rating carried by Fortune De Mer as he lines up in the Class 3 handicap hurdle at Ascot (2.35).
He's forecast to be a short price, not least because trainer Dan Skelton said in his recent stable tour that he'd be working his way back from the County Hurdle with the five-year-old, who will need to be a fair bit higher than 124 to be running in that contest.
The cynic in me finds it hard to believe a trainer as shrewd as Skelton would be telling everyone his handicap plot five months in advance, while the form student in me is struggling to make a case for Fortune De Mer being any higher in the ratings than he is anyway.
After just two runs over hurdles, there could clearly be a lot more to come, but he scrambled home in a bunched finish in what looked on paper a weak Grade 2, with the three-quarter-length third rated only 112 going into it and running for the 15th time over hurdles.
To these eyes Moveit Like Minnie's course-and-distance third at the start of this month is a much stronger piece of form, not least because the three-length winner Alexei has since bolted up by twice as far off a 7lb higher mark in the Greatwood and will go up another chunk after that.
There is some sort of case for marking up Moveit Like Minnie as well, as he was very keen on the front end yet was the only horse who raced prominently to play a hand in the finish.
He doesn't carry the sexy, lightly raced profile of a horse like Fortune De Mer as this will be his 25th run over hurdles, but he's 6lb lower than at his peak, is evidently in pretty decent form and, although he hasn't won at Ascot, usually runs his race there, so looks a fair shout against the jolly.
Your Darling, fragile but talented, makes his return after a long absence in the 2m5f Class 2 handicap chase (2.00), a race he won off 123 in 2022 and 128 in 2023, so you can be sure he has been readied for it again.
The ten-year-old has a really good record after a break but, having won again when last seen in May 2024, he's off 142 so he does face his stiffest task.
Racing Post+ Ultimate subscribers can read Paul Kealy's tips in full below . . .
'He looks a fair shout against the jolly' - Paul Kealy with three Friday selections
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