Lucky 15 Tips: Mersea Island should have more to offer

There are four UK meetings taking place on Monday, with jumps action from Fontwell and Musselburgh coming alongside all-weather offerings from Lingfield and Wolverhampton (evening).
My Lucky15 Tips for Monday's action are from the synthetic surfaces at Lingfield and Wolverhampton, including an in-form contender for Charlie Johnston that should have more to offer over staying trips.
Lucky 15 tips - Monday, December 8
- 14:37 Lingfield – Monks Mead @ 13/2
- 15:07 Lingfield – Beta Reader @ 3/1
- 17:30 Wolverhampton – Mersea Island @ 11/10
- 20:30 Wolverhampton – Minshaar @ 3/1
*Odds correct as of the time of publication
14:37 Lingfield – Monks Mead @ 13/2
The second division of this mile handicap at Lingfield could see MONKS MEAD going well on his return from a short break for the Mark Usher stable.
The four-year-old is consistent but has a poor strike-rate, with just two wins in 28 career starts.
Only nine of those runs have come on the all-weather and they include a win at Chelmsford, while his other win came over 7f at Lingfield on turf.
He is rated 7lb below his previous win-mark now and was twice third over a mile at Brighton in August before his break. He has gone well fresh in the past and can do so here again.
15:07 Lingfield – Beta Reader @ 3/1
Stable-switcher BETA READER starts out for the Laura Morgan team off a manageable mark of 60 in this mile-and-a-quarter contest.
The Study Of Man gelding was previously with Charlie Johnston, for whom he managed one success over 7f at Wolverhampton back in March of this year.
He ran some good races in defeat, including when third here over a mile in August and his two October runs upped to this sort of trip saw him making the frame.
He won't need to improve dramatically on those runs now for his trainer, with Luke Morris in the saddle, in order to play a key role in this race.
17:30 Wolverhampton – Mersea Island @ 11/10
One that remains with Charlie Johnston is the improving MERSEA ISLAND, the gelded son of Sea The Stars having improved this winter on the all-weather.
He won in wide-margin style at Southwell over 1m4f in early November – form that worked out well – and was denied by a matter of inches in the follow up attempt here over course and distance behind Bahadur as Stuart Williams' charge completed a hat-trick and preserved an unbeaten record on the AW.
Mersea Island was nudged up on just another pound in the ratings for that near miss and has scope for better at the staying trip.
20:30 Wolverhampton – Minshaar @ 3/1
Last month's Lingfield winner Penelope Valentine must try and defy a career-high mark of 69 and could be vulnerable to the less exposed filly MINSHAAR for trainer Richard Fahey.
She opened her account at Newcastle in November over 7f and has only gone up 3lb for that win.
She had a claimer on board then and will do now, Warren Fentiman taking off 5lb this time, and the three-year-old only has seven starts behind her, compared to 20 for top-weight Penelope Valentine.
This is just a second run over this trip on a synthetic surface and she can double her tally.
If all four of our selections won, today's notional 50p win Lucky 15, at the prices indicated (they can of course fluctuate), would return around £328 for a £7.50 total stake.
Lucky 15 tips from Betfred Insights.






















