3:00 – Wolverhampton – BET TOTEQUADPOT TEXT TOTE TO 89660 HANDICAP (CLASS 4) (3yo+ 0-85) Standard 5f20y

Previous course and distance winner Blanc De Chine looks an interesting runner at Wolverhampton this afternoon.  The 3 year old grey filly comes into the race on the back of a 14^th place finish at Bath 17 days ago, a run which can be disregarded as she was unruly in the stalls and stumbled, almost unseating her rider at the start.  Her previous run at Windsor when she won is far more representative of her current form.

Blanc De Chine had a busy campaign as a juvenile and ran eight times between her debut in June and the end of December.  She only cost 11,000 guineas at Tattersalls October Yearlings Sales at Newmarket in 2010, so she was not expected to be a superstar.  However, she was remarkably consistent as a 2 year old and in her eight runs she was placed 2^nd five times before breaking her Maiden at Wolverhampton over course and distance in December.

She has been campaigned much more sparingly this season.  After making a winning seasonal reappearance at Goodwood at the end of May she has run a total of five times.  She has not been placed at all this year, but she has won twice from her two starts.  She was given a change of tactics for her run at Windsor two starts back when she was taken to the front and she was able to make all to win by a neck.  As her trainer Peter Makin explained after the race: “We managed to drop her in at Goodwood and she won, but we did it the next twice and she sulked, so we decided to be more positive here. She wants to jump and run.”

She runs on the all weather for just the third time today and along with her win at Wolverhampton she also finished 2^nd at Lingfield on her other start.  She is a true sprinter and she has never run further than 5 furlongs and 34 yards on any of her starts, so over today’s trip her statistics read 2 wins and 4 placed efforts from 13 runs.

She is ridden by Jimmy Fortune this afternoon which is of interest from three angles.  Firstly, Jimmy has ridden Blanc De Chine three times and won on her twice.  Secondly, he has a 23% winning strike rate when riding for Peter Makin with 7 winners from 30 rides over the last 5 seasons and lastly Jimmy rides Wolverhampton very well.  Over the last 5 seasons he has ridden 18 winners from 78 rides for an excellent winning strike rate of 25%.

However, Blanc De Chine does come with risks attached to her this afternoon.  She is running off an Official rating of 78 which is 3lbs higher than her previous high winning mark.  She was also very unruly down at the start at Bath on her last run and we will only find out before the race today if she is likely to do the same again and she also has a less than ideal draw, coming out of stall 8 in an 11 runner race, when the lower numbered stalls are generally favoured at Wolverhampton over sprint trips.  She is also wearing a hood for the first time today and as she has never worn headgear of any kind on her previous 13 runs it will be interesting to see how she takes to it.  It is hoped that the hood will help her to concentrate and if it does and she can get across quickly enough to take the lead she could well surprise a few people today.  At current odds of 14/1 we do not need to invest a fortune to find out.