BBOTD - Thursday the 16th of January

19.30 Wolverhampton: Vale Of Clara @ 5/1 Paddy Power - 3pts win

I have two eye-catcher to run in this race with Vale Of Clara and Chez Vrony and the later one appears to be extremely well handicapped after a huge performance two weeks ago when he had all but surly not the run of the race. However Chez Vrony was at least already in full swing approaching the home straight, this was not the case for Vale Of Clara. She travelled probably best of all in that race but at the crucial stage 3f out when the pace really unfolded, she got stuck in traffic and had to sit an suffer until a gap on the inside opened up approaching the home straight, when in fact she had to quicken instantaneously, which is not what horses at this level are usually capable of. She really motored home though, despite appearing to hang slightly to the right around 1f out, which cost a bit of momentum again. Her third place was quite a fine performance after all though. Chez Vrony finished a close 2nd and was visually more impressive, but taking all into account he probably didn't run a much better race than compared to Vale Of Clara in my mind. He just had a bit less against himself I think. For all of that he is a leading chance tomorrow and despite a 3lb rise in the mark is probably still well in. But he is too short for me to bet on and in contrast Vale Of Clara can race off the same mark again, so in fact has an advantage in the weights. She slipped down to a really low mark anyway, one she should be well capable of winning from. This most recent form works out really well too, since the eventual winner - who had the run of the race from the front - won again, and that really boosts the credentials of Vale Of Clara and Chez Vrony. Because of the better price and the more favourable weight I feel Vale Of Clara is better value though and she really has absolutely no excuses if not running a big race tomorrow.