Glory of Paris heads back to Kempton this evening and steps up in grade for the 6f handicap. He has made a good start to the year, with plenty of correlating form with tonight’s rivals. He was a neck and a neck behind Born to Finish and Magic Valentine when third on his return over course and distance. He improved for that run to beat Bernie’s Boy by a head at Chelmsford despite getting hampered at a crucial stage. There probably won’t be much between all those horses once again this evening and while he is a bit wide in stall 8, it is a surprise to see him available at a much bigger price than Bernie’s Boy tonight. Obviously the favourite Sparkalot has been well backed and he could be a lightly raced progressive type for Simon Dow but is five pounds higher than his recent victory and Glory of Paris certainly represents each way value.
Although he was beaten at Kempton, it was still a solid run from Champagne Champ on his third start over hurdles to finish runner up behind the Alan King trained Chosen Path. The race was run at a solid pace and Nick put his stamina to good use by serving it up to the odds-on favourite but was found out approaching the last. Perhaps the ground was a little bit sticky for him as he did not quite travel or jump so fluently as he did at Chepstow but he will have learnt from the experience and there should be plenty more opportunities both over hurdles and on the flat.