ITV Racing Tips: Trio Of Each-Way Picks For Friday At Aintree And Hexham

ITV4 shows live racing from Aintree and Hexham on Friday afternoon, and Billy Grimshaw is steering clear of the short-priced favourites in search of each-way value. His trio of big-priced selections runs from a modest handicap chase at Hexham to the valuable BetMGM Premier Handicap Chase at Aintree, and not one of the three is a short price.

13:35 Hexham - carpetgallop.co.uk Handicap Chase

Hexham's 13:35 is a three-mile handicap chase for a field of eight, and as I pen this piece on Thursday lunchtime the market has settled on C'Mon So at 8/5. He won last time out 17 days ago and the figures of 64341 show a five-year-old heading in the right direction, but he has to carry 10-10 off a mark of 82 and I cannot see the sense in taking 8/5 about a progressive handicapper in an eight-runner field. Hexham on a Friday in November is no Cheltenham, but the bookmakers still take the same stakes, and I would rather chase a bigger price than a nice story.

That bigger price is 16/1 about LUNAR CONTACT, who runs off exactly the same mark of 100 as the 9/4 second favourite Walk Tall and is listed at the same 12-0, yet has the services of Miss Rebekah Duffy, whose 7lb claim effectively drops him to 11-7. He finished second in each of the two runs before he unseated his rider last time, and he is a past winner over this distance. Put simply, that price discrepancy against Walk Tall is just plain wrong, and a horse with two second places in his last four starts should not be a double-figure price.

There are plenty of reasons to be wary, which is why this is an each-way play and not a confident win bet. LUNAR CONTACT has not been seen for 207 days, he unseated his rider on his final start, and Susan Corbett's yard has not had a winner in the last 30 days. Against that, three places are paid at a fifth of the odds, so he only has to be placed to give us a decent return at 16/1, and I am happy to take that chance on a horse with the same rating as the second favourite and a jockey claiming 7lb.

14:45 Hexham - carpetgallop.co.uk Handicap Hurdle

The 14:45 is a nine-runner handicap hurdle over two and a half miles and Kool Raoul heads the betting at 85/40 after winning 17 days ago. He is a course and distance winner, so there is plenty to like on paper, but the figures of 5785-1 tell us he was never closer than fifth in the four runs before a break, and he now has to prove that one good day was not a flash in the pan off a mark of 107. High Dancer at 5/1 is the other the market respects, but he is top weight on 12-0 and finished sixth last time, so I am happy to leave both of them alone.

The one I like at the prices is SNOWROCCO at 20/1. Looking down the form figures, he is the only runner in the field with two wins in his last five starts, and he is rated 110 and carries 11-4, which is 8lb less than top weight. Ryan Mania, who is riding at a 17% strike rate over the last 30 days, takes the mount, and a 220-day break might be exactly what a seven-year-old needed. At 20/1 with three places paid, I will happily forgive the 4-0-5 that followed those two wins.

I will not pretend SNOWROCCO is a certainty. The three runs since his last win were no better than fourth, he has been off the track for 220 days, and Adam Nicol's yard has a 6% strike rate over the last 30 days, so the stable is not exactly flying. Even so, the price is simply too big to ignore in a race where nobody else has back-to-back wins on the form line, and with three places paid at a fifth of the odds he only needs to run a respectable race to give us a return.

15:35 Aintree - BetMGM Premier Handicap Chase

The BetMGM Premier Handicap Chase at Aintree is a valuable prize, worth £47,552 to the winner, and has attracted 12 runners over three miles and 210 yards on good to soft, good in places. Here Comes Georgie is the 13/5 favourite after winning 13 days ago, and with Harry Skelton in the plate, riding at a 31% strike rate over the last 30 days, I can see exactly why he is popular. But he is an eight-year-old rated 130 who has just won, and in a field this competitive with this much money on offer, 13/5 is not a price I want to take.

I would rather side with KAP VERT at 8/1. He is the youngest runner in the line-up at six and his figures of 13411 show wins in each of his last two starts, three from five overall, so he is clearly on the up. Rated 136, he carries 10-12, a whole 14lb less than top weight Master Chewy, who is rated 152, while the other market principals Konfusion (145) and Leave Of Absence (142) are rated higher but carry 11-7 and 11-4 respectively. At 8/1 with four places paid at a fifth of the odds, I think the market is underestimating an improving young chaser.

The obvious concerns are a 202-day absence and whether a six-year-old stays three miles and 210 yards, and Philip Hobbs and Johnson White have a 4% strike rate over the last 30 days, although the jumps season is only just warming up. The one I fear most is Master Chewy, who is top rated on 152, a course winner and 20/1, with both Sam Twiston-Davies and Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies in good form, but he has been absent for 239 days and his last run was a sixth. KAP VERT rates my NAP of the three.