BEST of the BETS

SNEAKY FEELING 2:50 Ffos Las NAP 7/1 B365

I have a sneaky feeling for this one today. Sorry I had to!!

Recent form could well point to this gelding being tailed off today. Last three runs beaten 44, 58 & 83 lengths! However I'm looking for reasons to be optimistic, by concentrating on earlier stuff....

Won a couple of decent C4 novice hurdles end of 2016/early 2017, including beating Bags Groove, Shantou Rock and others off level weights at Newbury.
Following a long break after a comfortable 22 length win at Sandown, two runs last October/November were very disappointing. However there was of course sickness in the Hobbs yard for much of the season and this horse could well of been amongst many affected.
Sneaky Feeling has been out only once since, running at Chepstow a little over a month ago, and as previously mentioned beaten 44 lengths. However, this was after nearly a year off the track and was in a Grade 3 contest.
Today he drops down 2 classes, and into a 0-130 for the first time.
I also think that the softer ground MAY be to the horse's advantage, winning form on Soft compared to unconvincing on Good, as per the last two runs.

5 of the horses in today's race are having their first runs of the year, where Sneaky has the advantage of that freshener last month.

Dickie is obviously at Ascot, but as an alternative I do like Micheal Nolan, and he does have a good win record at Ffos Las - 2/5 this year, and 11/51 (22%) over his career.

I also saw the following comments from Master trainer Hobbs, on the ATR stable tour. There is a hint of optimism in there, or that could be me trying too hard!!

"He was very disappointing last year but our horses we under a cloud a bit. If he is back to what he was the season before when he won decent novices at Newbury and Sandown he could do well."

I think 7/1 is a bit of value in this race, as if you discounted last year's form he would probably be around half that!

Fingers crossed