The Eclipse is live from Nottingham on Sky Sports 3 this evening. Wise Thought is the odds on favourite and he could well go trap to line to land the £8000 first prize put up by sponsors Betfred.
Speed Figures
T6 – Wise Thought 100
T4 – Movealong Blue 86
T3 – Farloe Merlin 84
T1 – Judicial Force 80
T2 – Bawnfune Mal 76
T5 – Romeo Maldini 74+
Wise Thought is top rated after his impressive 29.96 (calc) in the first round. He was nine spots slower in the semi finals but still a length and a quarter too good for Charlie Lister’s Farloe Merlin. Movealong Blue is next best but its pretty tight from him down to the sixth rated dog Romeo Maldini who is capable of better than he’s shown so far.
Skydogs Tissue
Using the speed figures as a basis and with allowances for the draw and likely early pace I’ve come up with the ‘tissue’ below –
11/8 Wise Thought, 5/1 Movealong Blue, 7/1 Judicial Force, 15/2 Farloe Merlin, 10/1 Bawnfune Mal, 14/1 Romeo Maldini
Wise Thought is understandly the favourite, well drawn in stripes and with the early boot to lead he has an excellent chance. The problem is the bookies best offer is 1/2 which is way too short for me to get involved. I have Movealong Blue next best at 5/1 but he’s the rag of the field with the layers and Ladbrokes go a very tempting 16/1. Realistically Paul Philpott’s dog is only playing for second place so rather than support him each way the best bet may be a buy on the spreads or a punt in the ‘without the fav’ market in which Totesport go 13/2. The other dog of interest from a value point of view is David Pruhs’ son of Top Honcho, Judicial Review. Well drawn and with decent early pace I make him a 7/1 shot but he’s widely available at 14/1. Again the best value may in the spreads or backing him without Wise Thought.
All in all this is a tough race from a punting point view given that Wise Thought is an obvious selection but no value. Movealong Blue is the alternative either on the spreads or without the favourite and it’s the latter market that I’m going to play in. The best price is 13/2 with Totesport but both Bet365 and Betfred offer 6/1 and each way terms of 1/4 the odds 1,2 which looks a pretty safe bet to me. If you fancy including Judicial Review then you could back both him and Movealong Blue to win ‘without the fav’.
