9th Mar 2016 | Horse Racing
Professional Return For Athenian Garden
Well beaten in two amateur jockey events but three starts back she was an unlucky sixth.
On the face of it, Athenian Garden looks a bad bet in the 5.40 Kempton. She has a poor strike rate (1-27) and has been beaten 33 & 16.5 lengths on her last two starts. However, at the price all we need is a chink of light.
Her last two starts have come in amateur events, which are never the most reliable bastions of form and last time out she actually travelled ok for much of the race.
The key bit of form is three starts back at Kempton. Held up in rear behind a steady pace (109.6% finishing speed) she was making good headway before being chopped off in the final furlong.
It’s difficult to say if she would have won but she definitely would have contested the finish. Even with interference, she clocked the third fastest closing sectional of the race.
With a professional jockey onboard we could see a return to form and at 40/1 (Bet365) she is worth the risk.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 01:01 9th Mar, 2016 but subject to change
