Follow The Money: Sweet being backed to receive a winning Ovation

Lingfield is the venue for one of today's FTM selections

With temperatures starting to rise in some parts of the country we have three UK meetings this afternoon, with the Follow The Money team having a selection at each of Southwell, Lingfield and Wetherby...

We begin at Southwell for today's lay, which comes in the 7f maiden at 14:40. Free Island is available to back at 2.56/4 having been matched this morning at prices as low as 1.84/5. This filly made a promising start to her career at Beverly when second in a maiden, but hasn't really progressed as expected on the all-weather surfaces recently, twice being turned over at relatively short prices. Her latest third in a 6f Wolverhampton handicap reads well and the step up to 7f may well suit her, but there are several negatives which temper enthusiasm for James Tate's three-year-old. Today will be the first time the selection has raced on the Southwell fibresand. By contrast one of her rivals, Combustible, ran a cracker on this surface four days ago, going down only a length to the short-priced favourite Bispham Green, with the pair pulling well clear of the third placed horse. These factors along with the lack of market support suggest that Free Island may find one too good once again today.

Our next selection comes at Lingfield in the 6f handicap at 15:00, where Sweet Ovation has been well supported from 7.87/1 in to a current 5.39/2. Mark Usher's filly has been a little out of sorts recently but has slipped to a winning mark as a result - last February the selection won over course and distance off a mark of 60 and she races off 52 today. Mark Usher is 2-7 with his runners at Lingfield and with a reasonable draw and the booking of William Buick catching the eye, it may be worth backing Sweet Ovation to get back to winning ways today.

Our final selection comes at Wetherby in the 3m1f handicap chase at 16:30 where Rebel Swing has been backed in to 8.27/1 having been matched at prices as high as 12.5n/a. This seven-year-old gelding has run well at Wetherby before and stayed on well last time out to finish second at Newcastle in similar conditions. The handicapper wasn't too impressed however and dropped him two pounds for his efforts, leaving him on a mark of 107 - two pounds lower than when winning a better race than this at Carlisle in October. Sue Smith is in fine form, boasting a 36% strike rate at Wetherby this season and she looks to have Rebel Swing primed for a big run today.

Recommended Bets

Lay Free Island @ 2.56/4 14:40 Southwell
Back Sweet Ovation @ 5.39/2 15:00 Lingfield
Back Rebel Swing @ 8.27/1 16:30 Wetherby