Timeform UK SmartPlays: Wednesday May 8

Two of today's SmartPlays run at Chester.

Timeform advise two bets at Chester alongside one at Southwell for Wednesday's SmartPlays...

The Chester Cup is the highlight on the opening day of Chester's May Festival and, although it is a very competitive race, we are more than happy to side with Countrywide Flame. The five-year-old scored three times on the Flat in 2011 prior to making all here over two miles in September of last year, beating Ardlui by three-quarters of a length. He went on to finish second in the Cesarewitch, not being beaten far by Aaim To Prosper, before embarking on what turned out to be an excellent season over hurdles, winning the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth at Newcastle and improving upon that form when finishing an admirable third in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. He is a thoroughly likeable performer who has the ideal running style for this type of race and, though he is a relatively short price, he is almost certain to go extremely close. 

The action at Southwell may not be of the same quality as at Chester but that won't matter if we can find a winner, and we may have done just that in the 14:55. There is no denying that it is a poor race made up largely of modest performers but one that could be ahead of its mark is Plus Fours, who makes his first start for Michael Appleby here having previously been trained by Charles Smith. Appleby is adept at reviving horses that appear to have lost their way and that certainly applies to Plus Fours, who has dropped in the weights from an initial mark of 63 down to 46. The cheekpieces are in place today and he is definitely one to note, particularly if the market speaks in his favour.  

We return to Chester for the 17:00, in which the Timeform Notebook could taste some success with the Ralph Beckett-trained Mombasa. The three-year-old is a well-related colt by Dubawi and, despite taking a couple of outings to find his feet last season, managed to get off the mark in a Newbury maiden in October. Mombasa progressed again when finishing second to High Troja, on his seasonal return an handicap debut at Leicester last month, and the suspicion is that he has more to offer now granted a greater test of stamina. 

Timeform SmartPlays:
Back Countrywide Flame @ 4.57/2 in the 14:45 at Chester
Back Plus Fours @ 4.77/2 in the 14:55 at Southwell
Back Mombasa @ 4.67/2 in the 17:00 at Chester

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