Put a few Bob on Olinger to spring a Champion surprise January 16, 2024 WITH less than 60 days until the Cheltenham Festival, attention is quickly turning to those four golden days in March and in the coming weeks I’m going to be putting up a few long-range pointers that are likely to shorten up considerably come race day. The art to picking ante-post selections has changed somewhat in [...]
Jonbon can Bridge the gap in Ascot’s Clarence House January 16, 2024 HOPEFULLY the temperature rises a bit before the weekend because the Clarence House (3.37pm) at Ascot could be a belter. We’ll have to wait to see if El Fabiolo and JONBON turn up, but let’s hope they do because if both are at their best it could be a real spectacle. The former is clearly [...]
Malina and Dundee hold Major chances in Warwick Classic January 9, 2024 THERE is some quality racing this weekend, with Kempton, Wetherby and Warwick all staging Grade Two chases, but perhaps the biggest betting race is Saturday’s Wigley Group Classic Handicap Chase (3.00pm) at Warwick. This 3m5f marathon is quite a unique staying test as it requires accurate jumping around a tight track, with Warwick’s famous row [...]
Impose Toi stands out for Henderson in the Lanzarote January 9, 2024 KEMPTON hosts some quality action on Saturday too, with the big betting race on the card being the Coral Lanzarote Hurdle (2.40pm). There’s only been one winning favourite of this contest in the past 10 runnings, but, having had a good look at the race, I must admit I do think market leader IMPOSE TOI [...]
Prepare for a Royale rumble on Boxing Day December 19, 2023 FOR AVID racing fans, Christmas Day is not the main event, that comes 24 hours later on Boxing Day with the feature race of the Christmas period, and second most important jumps race in the calendar, the King George (2.30pm). Kempton Park will be packed to the rafters for the festive spectacle and, looking at [...]
Fry’s Belli looks worth a tickle in Ascot’s Exchange Trophy December 19, 2023 POOR old Harry Fry is suffering from a bit of a bout of seconditis at present. Enhanced by hitting the crossbar three times with four runners at Cheltenham last weekend, his silver medal strike-rate now stands at 31 per cent for the season. Whether or not ALTOBELLI is the horse to buck the trend remains [...]
Ridoto and Hurricane look storming bets in December Gold Cup December 12, 2023 WHEN I was looking back through the recent winners of Saturday’s December Gold Cup (1.50pm) at Cheltenham, one statistic stood out like a sore thumb. Favourites have a terrible record in the race and you have to go all the way back to 2009 and Poquelin to find the last market leader who emerged victorious. [...]
Back Bonttay to Nurse a way through Cheltenham nightcap December 12, 2023 LUCCIA is the big draw in Saturday’s finale at Cheltenham, the 2m4f mares’ handicap hurdle (3.35pm), and while she heads the market there are reasons to take Nicky Henderson’s mare on. While she has run well on both her starts this season – well-fancied when sent off 11/8 and 6/1 – connections will surely be [...]
Percussion to find right rhythm over big Becher fences December 5, 2023 FOR THE second time this season we have the chance to see horses race over Aintree’s Grand National fences with the famous Becher Chase (2:05pm), one of the feature races on a busy Saturday of racing. PERCUSSION has proved that he has a real affinity for this jumping test, running three times over these fences [...]
Keep an eye on Cyclop and Fortescue in London National December 5, 2023 IF THE weather forecasters are to be believed then the ground will be pretty bad come the time of the London National (3.35pm) on Saturday at Sandown. As with all of my ante-post columns, it’s pretty tricky to know for definite who is going to turn up and who isn’t, so with that in mind, [...]
