Thursday’s best bets, by Greg Wood
Four horses have gone to post as odds-on chances over the first two days of this year’s Punchestown festival, and all four have been beaten. It is a run that seems sure to end at some stage, but it is also a useful reminder that this meeting comes at the end of a long campaign, and even apparently easy victories will take their toll in the end.
That said, it will be a profound shock if Douvan (6.40) somehow fails to win the Grade One Ryanair Novice Chase this evening. Vautour and Yorkhill, his stablemates at the Willie Mullins yard, both came up short at cramped odds on Tuesday, while Djakadam and Don Poli also showed signs of fatigue in the Gold Cup here on Wednesday. Douvan, though, is the horse that Mullins himself feels is the best of the lot, and it is 14-1 bar the favourite this morning in a six-runner field.
Anything less than an exhibition round from Douvan will be a disappointment, while Mullins will also hope that Shaneshill (5.30), who was nominated here on Wednesday by his trainer as a probable runner in next season’s World Hurdle, will be good enough to take the Grade One for stayers earlier on the card. In fact, with Shaneshill currently available at 14-1 for the World Hurdle, punters with some patience might feel that the ante-post market is the way to go.
Josies Orders is odds-on for the La Touche Cup, the big race of the week over the Banks (Cross-Country) Course, and no wonder as he represents the irrepressible cross-country combination of Nina Carberry and Enda Bolger. He is not as far clear of the field on ratings as his price might suggest, however, and Bless The Wings (4.50) is a fair alternative at around 9-2.
On the domestic cards, Dandyleekie (4.10) at Redcar has already felt the force of a switch to the David O’Meara stable and should follow up his recent success at Ripon, while Evanescent (4.45) also has an obvious chance in the claimer on the same card.
Tipping competition, day four
Our winners so far:
Monday
Funding Deficit 7-1
Fort Del Oro 13-8
Weetles 3-1
Tuesday
Good Luck Charm 7-2
Maoi Chinn Tire 16-1
Zabana 7-2
Wednesday
Mizzou 11-4
Dinneratmidnight 12-1
GM Hopkins 5-2
And our leader is:
chris1623 +27.75
… who quite rightly pointed out yesterday that we’d underplayed his score by a few points and then scored a double through Mizzou and GM Hopkins. Bacciodilupo (+25.50) was one of just two to find Dinneratmidnight, the other being BatmanKaisers (+12.50). Other good scores in an excellent week: AndieAndson +23.75, Onion_Terror +19.25, goodfellow1 +19.13, dlk1107 +18.50, GForce1 +16.50, kmill68 +16, Geoff Staddon +16, DrClaw +16, sandiuk +16.
It’s very interesting to see what you can do when you’re all trying!
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 5.05 Lingfield, 5.30 Punchestown, 7.30 Chelmsford.
This week’s prize is a belter. It’s a copy of Timeform’s latest annual, Racehorses of 2015, a 1,000-page brick reviewing every horse trained in Britain that ran last year, with extended essays on the best of them, lavishly illustrated with photos and sure to be an item for any racing fan to treasure. If you don’t win, you can buy it here … for £79!
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today but you will start on -9.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
