Author: Joel Roberts

I’ve backed FIREFOX for Ballymore success off the back of his defeat of Willie Mullins’s Ballyburn in a maiden hurdle. It’s pretty clear he and Down Memory Lane are the two talking horses from Gordon Elliott’s yard this season and I’m not expecting anything else to come from the leftfield…

2m (1m7f216y) Rachael Blackmore Serial Winners Fund Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (3yo+ 0-150) I shortlisted four for this race. Arqoob, Bucksy Des Empieres, Punta Del Este and finally JILAIJONE, who gets the verdict at the biggest price of the four. This is a very solid and consistent handicapper who’s placed in every…

2m4½f (2m4f118y) Coral Racing Club Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4yo+ 0-150) A good betting race with plenty having chances. Jet Powered made my shortlist because he’s always had a big reputation and ran too bad to be true on his second hurdles run. Off a mark of 131 you’d have to say…

2m4f (2m3f187y) Coral John Francome Novices’ Chase (Grade 2) (Formerly Known As The Berkshire) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4yo+) Hermes Allen is the right favourite here as he’s a Grade 1 winner at the track over hurdles, but he struggled to make a mark in two Grade 1s thereafter and is a little exposed.…

2m½f (2m87y) (Old) Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4yo+) LUCCIA ticks a lot of boxes here. Like half of this race’s winners in the last decade, she’s only five and has loads of scope to improve past her 136 rating. She has Grade 1 form…

I couldn’t have been more impressed with Albert Bartlett winner STAY AWAY FAY‘s jumping on chasing debut at Exeter. It was silky smooth and will give him an excellent chance in Grade 1 chases. We know this horse stays all day from his hurdling days and he has the massive…

5f Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Grade 1) (3yo+) (Turf) (3yo+) I’m keen to take on Live In The Dream, the surprise Nunthorpe winner, purely on the grounds the European 5f division is poor at the moment and he was beaten on his first start in America. On balance that was a good…

1m FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile presented by Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund (Grade 1) Super competitive. The form horse is Songline who bagged two domestic Grade 1s over the summer, but she’s a big mare who likes to come from off the pace and she’s going to have to from her…

1m2f Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1) (3yo+ Fillies & Mares) (Hillside) (Turf) (3yo+) WARM HEART should be favourite for this race over the mercurial Inspiral, who to my eye has a lot to prove at this trip. Inspiral can sulk and her tendency to completely blow out…

1m Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Grade 1) (2yo Fillies) (Turf) (2yo) The European challenge in this race looks weak this year after Opera Singer wasn’t entered and Aidan O’Brien only sends the disappointing Content, who needed every yard of the soft ground mile to win last time. Carla’s Way and Porta…