Friday’s best bets, by Greg Wood
Any day at Cheltenham races is special, and while the card at the track today is about as understated as it ever gets here - if you ignore hunter-chase evening in April, at any rate - there will still be more than 10,000 spectators in Gloucestershire to enjoy the action, admire the view and hope that they might spot a Festival contender before anyone else.
The first race on the card, an early trial for the Neptune Novice Hurdle at the Festival, has been won by several useful performers in recent seasons, including The New One (2012), who went on to win the Neptune five months later, and Vicente, in 2014, who effectively secured the trainers’ title for Paul Nicholls last season when he took the Scottish Grand National.
Nicholls has won two of the last three renewals and has the favourite today in El Bandit, the winner of his last four starts including a Grade Two event at Chepstow earlier this month. He faces an interesting opponent in Black Warrior (2.10), however, as Charles Byrnes is not known for sending hopeless causes across the water, and his form on good ground over the summer does not give him a great deal to find here. At the prices, he is worth a bet at around 100-30.
Aristo Du Plessis (2.45), who was a very useful handicap hurdler last season, is an interesting contender for the two-mile novice chase with Richard Johnson booked to ride, while Heron Heights (3.55), a comfortable winner last time out, looks a little over-priced against Tiger Roll, the 2014 Triumph Hurdle winner, in the stayers’ novice chase.
The best bet on the card, though, could be Satellite (5.40) in the concluding handicap hurdle. He is a little weak in the market this morning, which is a slight concern, but he is a blank canvas as a handicapper after three runs and two wins. Tim Vaughan’s five-year-old was gifted a race at Fontwell last time when his only significant rival failed to complete, but he finished a close second off 90 in a Newbury handicap last autumn, which suggests an opening mark of 117 over timber could be lenient.
On the Flat card at Doncaster, George Bowen (3.45) could be worth a small interest in the sprint handicap. He was short of room at a vital stage at York last time out and is back to the mark of 91 from which he took a competitive race at The Curragh last year.
Cloudberry (3.35) already looks like one of those sensible handicappers that only ever does enough, having won his last three races by a combined total of about a length-and-a-half. A 5lb rise for his latest success looks fair and he should extend his winning run on the card at Newbury, where the debut of UAE King (1.20), a half-brother to Dubawi, in the opener is also of interest.
We are no longer able to continue with competitions every week, but they will still run in the biggest weeks (Cheltenham, Aintree, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and maybe one or two others, as well as the Christmas quiz).
We’ll still have a Talking Horses each day for tips, analysis and news, so we very much hope you’ll join us to chew over whatever racing happens to be going on and post your tips or racing-related comments below.
