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, [...]
Nicholls’ Unknown taken to Complete Newbury mission November 28, 2023 THERE are plenty of great races outside of the Cheltenham Festival and Saturday’s Coral Gold Cup (2.50pm) at Newbury is certainly one of them. Before I dive into my preview, I should point out that as with all of these ante-post pieces, it’s always difficult to know exactly who’s running, so keep an eye out [...]
Back Nickle to knuckle down and beat Allen at Newbury November 28, 2023 FRIDAY’s card at Newbury features two Grade Twos and in the first of those, the John Francombe Novices’ Chase (1.50pm), attention will be on Paul Nicholls’ Hermes Allen as he attempts to make a winning chase debut. Last season’s Challow Hurdle winner has already won a Point-to-Point and looks the type that should make into [...]
Protekt against any losses in Betfair Chase November 21, 2023 HAYDOCK hosts the first Grade One in Britain this season with the Betfair Chase (3:00pm) on Saturday, and by the look of the early declarations it is set to be a cracker. There isn’t any significant rainfall forecast at the Merseyside track ahead of race day, but with the going currently described as heavy, given [...]
Back Henderson’s Theatre to be Ascot’s star of the show November 21, 2023 IT FEELS like the National Hunt season takes a real step up this weekend and we’ve also got some cracking action at Ascot to get stuck into. The 1965 Chase (1:30pm) looks a belter and sees Shishkin and Pic D’Orhy, the first two home 12 months ago, do battle again. Much has been written about [...]
