Warwick hosts a nice card today with the Grade-2 Leamington Novices’ Hurdle attracting two Irish raiders from the all-conquering Mullins yard. Neither are favourite as that accolade goes to the Skeltons’ Born Survivor, who won well last time out in a race where the second has since bolted up to…
Author: Joel Roberts
1pt win Tombstone @20/1, Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Cheltenham 15th March
To the delight of punters, for the past three years the Cheltenham Festival’s curtain raiser, the two-mile Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, has gone to Rich Ricci, Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh. For the same connections and long before he’d even raced outside France, Min has headed the market for the 2016 renewal.…
0.5pt ew Borak @14/1, Chepstow 14:20
High-class racing is in thin supply today with the only expected influencer of Cheltenham Festival markets being Rich Ricci’s Min, who advertises his Supreme Novices’ credentials at a prohibitively short price at Punchestown. In Britain, the rescheduled Welsh Grand National is the feature race of a card that also features the…
Five Cheltenham Festival ante-post selections
And so concludes a busy and successful festive period of National Hunt fixtures from both sides of the Irish Sea. December was a difficult month but Thistlecrack, Coney Island, Douvan, Ar Mad and Camping Ground all scored in Fergie time to bring our lifetime total to +114.44pts – our highest mark…
1pt win Camping Ground @10/1, Cheltenham 15:05
The decision to move this Grade 2 hurdle from the December meeting has been rewarded with a cracking renewal featuring an ex-Gold Cup hero, the reigning World Hurdle champ, a two-times Liverpool Hurdle winner and some progressive young pretenders. Even better – from a punting perspective – is the likelihood Cole Harden…
1pt win Three Musketeers @7/2, Cheltenham 13:20
The Coral Cup form was given a timely boost this week with second-placed Zabana impressively winning at Leopardstown, which is a compliment to the form Three Musketeers‘s recent four-length success over Coral Cup-second Activial at Newbury. When last seen at Newbury he impressively beat L’Unique by a similar margin managed…
1pt win West Approach @10/1 or best morning price, Cheltenham 12:10
I fancied the well-bred West Approach last time out at Cheltenham, where he travelled eye-catchingly well before fading up the hill; now dropped in trip and hopefully better for the run, I’m keen to give him another go. He’s under the same ownership and out of the same dam as…
1pt win Identity Thief @7/2, Leopardstown 14:30
All-time-great Hurricane Fly – winner of the last three renewals and arguably the best horse ever to race at Leopardstown – is probably larking around a field enjoying his retirement, and in his absence Willie Mullins has continued his domination of the two-mile hurdling division. His own Nichols Canyon took the…
1pt win Martello Tower @4/1, Leopardstown 13:55
We’re having a good week with Coney Island, Douvan and Ar Mad justifying big bets, along with Sire De Grugy and Open Eagle hitting the crossbar. There’s not a lot of top-class racing in Britain today, but Leopardstown hosts the Grade 1 Lexus Chase and the three-mile Christmas Hurdle, where…
1pt win Sire De Grugy @4/1, Kempton 14:00
Emotions ran high when star chaser Sprinter Sacre emphatically returned to form in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham’s Open meeting. Emotion might be the primary reason he’s a 4/6 favourite for Kempton’s Desert Orchid Chase on Sunday – the same race he was dramatically pulled up in two years ago. Sire…