Democretes was very strong in the market at Leicester and got held up by Richard Hughes, as had been hoped. Sadly, the prominent racers held a big advantage and that made his tactics prove to be a negative in the contest, though he is clearly better suited to it. He travelled really well through the race but had to be switched to get a run at a vital stage and would have been closer than the 1-length margin had he found an uninterrupted passage. It made no difference between winning and losing at the same time, with the race bias towards those handily ridden putting paid to that. It was a cracking effort and as good as proves that he'll be better if campaigned over this trip. We were on the winner, Amazing Amoray, last twice but I wasn't overly keen on him this time, just a week after having his first run for a few months. Of course he'd go on to win and add insult to injury but you'll have that and I simply thought that he wasn't worth the risk at the prices in a grade higher than his last run. Everything went just perfectly for him and he took advantage.

-1.00pts on the day. Form of last 10 selections; 3-3-0-8-8-7-6-2-6-3 (0 winners & 4 places).

Thought that I'd have two selections today but the last race at Doncaster is proving impossible for me and as a result, there's only one. I do, however, think that the one we have for today is vastly overpriced despite him needing plenty to go his way for this drop back in trip. It promises to suit though and hopefully will. Bar the last, there's not much else to be interested in today. Sole Power doesn't look opposable in the Listed sprint so not going near that race. Have a good one folks, be lucky and here's hoping that we get a winner.

4:45 Doncaster - Compton - 2pts @ 14/1 (Bet365, BetVic, Lads, Powers)

This wouldn't usually be my sort of race but from a value side of things, Strictly Silver must be opposed at what I'd deem to be a stupid price. Win or lose, there's no way in hell that he should be taking up the guts of 30% of the market. Compton is the one that I'll take him on with and hope that Ralph Beckett's talented and lightly-raced 3-year-old appreciates the drop back to 7f, for the first time this season. As a juvenile, he was an impressive maiden winner at Windsor on fast ground, finished runner-up in a conditions' event at the same track and then went on to place in a juvenile Listed race at Ripon, all over 6f and the last two on good-to-soft going. Connections then stepped him up to 7f but that came on the polytrack at Kempton and it's possible that he did not handle it, as he certainly performed well below par and market expectations. That was that for the season and he didn't reappear until Royal Ascot, with connections keen to keep his handicap mark at 92 for a tilt at the ultra-competitive Britannia Stakes and he ran a cracker to come home in fourth place on his first outing as a three-year-old. He reappeared a few weeks later on July Cup day at Newmarket but the ground was horribly bad. That didn't stop a flood of money coming for him before the off, as he was backed in from 10/1 to 9/2 and given that his yard are fairly shrewd, they must think that his mark of 92 is far from insurmountable. Despite the support, he disappointed but the field crawled along early and he was far too keen for his own good. They also started racing a decent way from home and he was never in with a chance of showing his true worth. You can ignore that run. His only two performances since have been good, firstly when finishing third at Haydock back on good ground and then he was fourth at Ripon on good-to-soft, in which he was strong in the market once more. Both of those suggested that a step back in trip wouldn't go astray and Doncaster is the sort of track that should suit him. Ralph Beckett has his string in great knick too and does really well with his three-year-old's here, managing to land on 7 winners and as many places from 41 runners down the years (17% strike-rate; 82% ROI). The in-form Jim Crowley is on board and that's for the first time this season, for what reason I don't know. He's a brilliant jockey, one who's having a great year and hopefully he'll unlock the door for this keen-going gelding, who should be well up to winning a race of this nature if he's at his best. Dangerous opposition lurk all over the place but his current price is about twice what it should be and a 2pt bet will be played. Hopefully he'll win! Market support would be very encouraging and it'd also help if the pace was strong, so he will settle.

Result - 10th @ 12/1; Travelled well, got a few bumps and weakened.