The All England Cup is the main event on Sky's card tonight and Barrie Draper's Boherna Best is the hot favourite as he bids to add this title to the Laurels he picked up at Belle Vue in October.
Speed Figs
T4 - Dotland Hit Man 100
T2 - Boherna Best 80
T5 - Eye Onthe Pulse 70
T1 - Eye Onthe Brave 67
T6 - Droopys Carvalho 40
T3 - Vacant
Dotland Hit Man is clear on the figures courtesy of his impressive five length win in the semi finals. The classy Boherna Best is next in followed by the two Mark Wallis trained runners, Eye Onthe Pulse and Eye Onthe Brave.
Skydogs Tissue
Using the speed figures as a basis along with some adjustment for the draw and probable early pace I've come up with the 'tissue' below -
11/10 Dotland Hit Man, 4/1 Boherna Best, 9/2 Eye Onthe Brave, 8/1 Eye Onthe Pulse, 28/1 Droopys Carvalho
Dotland Hit Man heads my market but the bookies only have him as second best and a generous looking 15/8 is available with Bet365. There is no doubt that's a value price but I am concerned about his draw in trap 4 and I can see him getting tangled up with Eye Onthe Pulse at the first bend. Boherna Best warrants respect but the best price of evens is terribly short. I couldn't be on at that price but will stop short of laying him as I can see him getting on the bunny. Eye Onthe Brave is overpriced for me at 10/1 with Bet365 given that he has the plum draw in red and is the only inside seed in the field. This brindle son of Ballymac Maeve has also got some decent early and if Boherna Best isn't foot perfect at the traps he could well grab the lead at the first bend. That leaves us with Eye Onthe Pulse who is not a bad price at 12/1 while the slow starting Droopys Carvalho looks likely to struggle and I couldn’t have him on my mind at a skinny looking 10/1.
There are lots of ways this race could be played. I wouldn't put anyone off backing Dotland Hit Man or laying Boherna Best at the prices on offer but for the reasons given above I'm not going down those routes myself. Eye Onthe Brave is too big for me to ignore at 10/1 so I'm going to have a little on him to win but my main bet will be for him to finish in front of Droopys Carvalho at 5/6 with Blue Square. If you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket then Stan James offer 5/6 about Mark Wallis' other runner, Eye Onthe Pulse, finishing in front of Carvalho which is also decent value.
Best of luck to connections and to you if you have a bet.
