Bet of the day – Monday’s racing

Our favourite Uncle

Coral punters enjoyed a thrilling weekend of horse racing action, including a host of graded races on Saturday and at Leopardstown on Sunday. We return to our bread and butter on Monday however, with meetings planned for Catterick, Plumpton and Wolverhampton.

Sticking to the ever-reliable all-weather meet at Wolves for our bet of the day, where an eight-race card gets underway at 2.20pm with a maiden fillies stakes contest. We are however, mere spectators until the 3.20pm Middle Handicap, an eight-runner affair contested over the one-mile one-furlong trip.

Previous course and distance winner Dutch Uncle goes as our NAP of the afternoon, with Ed Dunlop’s experienced five-year-old gelding looking for career win number three. The selection hasn’t stuck his head in front since last spring, but he has been threatening a return to the winner’s enclosure of late and was runner-up at Lingfield on his penultimate start.

Beaten a short-head on that occasion, he has been seen improving since, pulling his weight against decent company last time out, certainly better than anything he will face here. His best would be more than enough to go close again and the market obviously agrees, with Dutch Uncle opening at 10/3. He’s already attracted support, and that’s a positive for backers.

Boston worth sticking with

Our next best goes in the lucky last and Siege of Boston looks the one to be on. John Butler’s four-year-old gelding was in winning fashion on Wednesday at Chelmsford when leading Hidden Gem home by a length.

That was his debut for the yard and although they have a couple of creases yet to iron out, he was an eye-catcher that day and connections obviously want to get things moving quickly. He has gone up 6lb for that win, but, on his day, should have more than enough about him to deal with that penalty, and we keep faith.