The horse racing broadcaster previews the best of Saturday's racing, with two selections from Newcastle and two from Newbury.
Few could have anticipated a fortnight ago that the Champion Hurdle market would have undergone such a shake-up. The poor gallop and subsequent lameness of Constitution Hill, followed by the defeat of reigning champion State Man, now sees Lossiemouth head the market in most lists. Having swerved a clash with Betterdaysahead and State Man last week, she instead lines up against Teahupoo in a fascinating 14:00 clash in the Hattons Grace on Sunday.
Meanwhile, both Sir Gino and Mystical Power will be looking to press their claims in the Fighting Fifth, and it could be MYSTICAL POWER 5/4 (13:10 Newcastle) who comes out on top. Sir Gino was by now meant to be embarking on a Novice Chase career, so this represents a change of plan and that tilts the scales in favour of the year older Mullins horse, who is the slicker jumper of the two and possesses a smart turn of foot.
Nicky Henderson can gain some compensation courtesy of IMPOSE TOI 7/2 (13:54 Newbury), who has not been seen since January at Kempton when third in a red-hot Lanzarote which threw up five next time out winners. He gave the impression last campaign that he had a decent handicap in him this term and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was to get his season up and running here before a tilt at the handicap at Ascot just before Christmas and the Betfair Chase back here in February.
The big staying handicap chase of the day is the Coral Gold Cup which rather lacks a headline act. As such it could be worth siding with an outsider in IRON BRIDGE 22/1 (15:00 Newbury), who is below the mark he placed off in both Haydock’s Grand National Trial and the Welsh National. A gruelling test is right up his street and if the leaders go too hard he could well pick up at least some of the pieces.
The feature staying chase at Newcastle is the Rehearsal Chase, where there also looks a dangerous bottom weight in GUSTAVIAN 9/1 (15:20 Newcastle), who ran well from out of the weights in the Badger Beer where he also got hampered by the fall of The Changing Man. He is unexposed over staying trips and Sean Bowen is getting down to 10st 3lbs to ride and is 2/1 for the yard (A/E 1.28)
JOCKEYS FOR COURSES
Another treble last week for one of the riders highlighted, with Connor Brace achieving the feat for the first time at his beloved Huntingdon.
This week’s pair of riders heading for venues they have historically performed well at are:
Doncaster: Henry Brooke (19/147, A/E 1.48). His five rides include Crystal Glance (14:02) who he has ridden to her last two victories at Bangor and Uttoxeter.
Newbury: Charlie Deutsch (15/68 A/E 1.52). He has four rides the pick of which could be The Famous Five (14:25) who could be getting the ginger beers in by landing the hat-trick.
STABLE TRACKER UPDATE
A very quiet week when our only runner will be I’M RAVENOUS (12:17 Doncaster), who looks the type to do better over fences based on his chasing debut at Warwick where he obliged with the minimum of fuss. He was sent straight over fences once he qualified for a mark and given his experience in the Point to Point field he can stay ahead of his mark for quite a while.
An outing to Southwell just over a week ago sees three horses added to swell our All-Weather team. The handicap won by Helm Rock from Cynosure sees them both added. Helm Rock has dropped a long way but after signalling he was finding his level the time before he scored here with the minimum of fuss. A rise of just 3lb to 86 seems lenient given he has a success to his name off 94 in the past.
Cynosure was returning after an absence of 200 days since a poor run at Newmarket in May had seen his steady progress stall. He looked over whatever ailed him that day and has clearly been brought back at this time of year with an All-Weather campaign in mind. He only got raised a single lb and won’t always bump into such a well handicapped horse as Helm Rock.
Ormolulu has run well on both starts since joining Gemma Tutty and looks very close to breaking through based on his solid finish in the finale. Left on the same mark he looks sure to go well next time.
Released: None
Added: Helm Rock, Cynosure, and Ormolulu
A full list of the current stable tracker horses can be found here.
COLUMN PERFORMANCE 2024
(Actual Winners / Expected Winners A/E Ratio Par = 1.00)
Selections: 61/59.81, A/E 1.02
Stable Tracker: 29/31.31, A/E 0.93
Jockeys For Courses: 61/60.76, A/E 1.00
Total Performance: 151/151.88, A/E 0.99
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