Betfred’s Owen McMahon picks out his best bet from all six meetings across the UK & Ireland on Wednesday 2 August 2023. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – a good jockey is worth its weight in gold when it comes to apprentice races.

There’s few better in that sphere than Benoit De La Sayette, who rides BATTISTA for John & Thady Gosden in this 0-85 apprentice handicap over 1m at Sandown on Wednesday.

My evaluation is that the handicapper has been pretty generous in giving this three-year-old son of New Bay an opening mark of 77.

He’s ran just three times in his career to date, firstly when a promising fourth behind some 85+ rated horses in a Kempton novice earlier this year before a similar effort in an equally strong heat at Newmarket a few weeks later.

They’re two solid pieces of form, especially in the context of this race and when you consider how evidently inexperienced he was.

His latest outing just 14 days ago is much harder to weigh up as he was sent off 1/3f for what was a terribly weak contest, but nonetheless he won in the manner of a very good horse and the hope is he’s starting to get the hang of this racing business.

Battista isn’t a straightforward ride, so the fantastic De La Sayette will no doubt have to earn his fee on this one, but I believe he has significantly more scope than his six rivals and has to be considered extremely dangerous off just 9-1.