Wincanton, Sunday 12 April 2026: Tips & Selections

Wincanton, Sunday 12 April 2026: Tips & Selections

While the racing world's attention was firmly on Aintree yesterday for the Grand National card, Wincanton stages a compact but competitive eight-race Sunday card on good ground. Three races stand out for punting purposes: a small-field mares' chase, a six-runner handicap hurdle, and a mares' bumper to close. Good ground throughout suits horses with proven form on a sound surface, so anything that has only won on soft or heavy needs treating with serious caution.

4:00 — Bridles Care Home In Wincanton Handicap Hurdle (2m5½f)

Selection: Khafre at 9/4 (Bet365, William Hill)

Six runners, two places paid. This is a race where the market has landed in the right place, and the improving horse at the foot of it catches the eye. Khafre looked a different animal when routing the field at Taunton 19 days ago on his handicap debut over 2m3f on good ground. That was no fluke. This is a 3m Irish point winner who still looked green when winning his novice hurdle, and the step up in experience since has clearly sharpened him up. Paddy Hanlon, who steered him to that Taunton win, rides again under a 5lb claim. Yes, he's 5lb higher in the weights, but his mark still looks workable and the trainer, Syd Hosie, has a modest strike rate over the past fortnight, which the market is pricing in. The form horse in the book is John Barbour, but the Fergal O'Brien gelding's jumping let him down badly at Uttoxeter and he has to bounce back on demand. Khafre is on an upward curve. Back the improver.

4:30 — Bruton Mares' Handicap Chase (1m7½f, 4 runners)

Selection: Obsessedwithyou at 13/8 (William Hill)

Four runners, no each-way market to worry about. Queens Gamble dominates the market at 6/4 but the case for Obsessedwithyou at 13/8 is solid and the price gap between the two is too narrow given the angles here. Obsessedwithyou has won three of her six chase starts, including an easy victory at Sedgefield, and her form line includes bumping into Bluey at Kempton, a horse who Queens Gamble then beat. That places her right in the mix on raw form. Jamie Snowden's yard has been operating at a healthy 3/15 clip over the past 14 days, which is a trainer firing. The one reservation is fitness after a gap, but the spotlight comment suggests that's the only question mark. Queens Gamble's trainer Harry Derham is 1/14 lately, which is a yard that has been cold. At a skinny 6/4 about the favourite from a trainer out of form, 13/8 about an improving mare from a hot yard looks like the correct play. Somespring Special on the shorter trip is worth a watching brief, but her Kempton run off this career-high mark was flat, and this track and trip suit Obsessedwithyou better.

5:30 — Castle Cary Mares' Open NH Flat Race (1m7f, 5 runners)

Selection: Sorgean Each-Way at 10/3 (Bet365, William Hill)

Western Charm is the obvious favourite and she did win here in January, but she was tailed off when the class lifted at Sandown and is free-going by nature. Good ground, rather than the heavy she won on here, removes one of her advantages. Harry Fry has been in decent form at 2/10 over 14 days, and Sorgean is a horse who cost £38,000 after placing second in a 3m Irish point on yielding ground. The pedigree and point form suggest she stays and handles pace. In a five-runner field she simply needs to run her race and let Western Charm's tendency to pull hard do the damage. At 10/3 in a race where the favourite has a stamina-sapping style and a question mark over the going, Sorgean represents proper each-way value. Lady Litigator is the yard's second string on jockey bookings and Hollie Potter is unexposed, but Fry's purchase looks the sharpest angle at the price.

Today's NAP