11.30am Sign Of A Victory heads Betfair Hurdle field
Tony Paley: The classy Sign Of A Victory will carry top weight in Saturday’s Betfair Hurdle at Newbury.
The Nicky Henderson-trained runner won a Listed at Ascot earlier in the season in eye-catching style but could only finish fourth behind Champion Hurdle favourite Faugheen in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle.
While connections are adamant he will be seen at his best on good ground, they are happy to let him take his chance this weekend due to a lack of other suitable opportunities.
Henderson walked the track at Newbury on Wednesday to assess the condition of the ground under the frost covers and while he reported it soft, it was not soft enough to persuade him not to run.
Sign Of A Victory’s owner Matt Morgan confirmed on Thursday: “He’s been declared and Barry [Geraghty] will ride. We decided we may as well find out once and for all about the ground in a race such as this.”
Henderson has also declared Vasco Du Ronceray but his Snake Eyes missed the cut for the final field of 24.
Thursday’s best bets, by Tony Paley
It’s great to have jumps racing back on but the two cars at Huntingdon and Taunton look particularly tricky on Thursday with Gilzean (4.50) the best suggestion in the concluding race at Taunton. This is not a competitive contest by any means and his recent runs at Market Rasen amnd Fakenham give him every chance.
Trimoulet (5.10) was well-backed to make a winning debut in handicap company when he stepped up from a mile to 10 furlongs at Chelmsford City last week and he stayed on strongly through the final quarter-mile to win with something to spare. Another two furlongs today at Wolverhampton should not cause him any problems, and could well coax a little more improvement from Daniel Kubler’s gelding as he attempts to follow up off a 5lb higher mark.
Patrick will be quite a short price to beat five opponents in the six-furlong handicap at Chelmsford this evening, and should improve for his debut win in a Lingfield maiden last month. There are a couple of rivals with form in the book already that is good enough to win here, however, and Dark Side Dream (6.10) has realistic hopes of emerging on top at around 5-1. Chris Dwyer’s three-year-old has yet to run on Polytrack but has run with credit on both Fibresand and Tapeta and could be able to dominate today’s small field.
The veteran Al Muheer (4.05), who runs at Wolverhampton, suggested that he may have at least one more low-grade handicap in him when second in a seller at this track last time out, while another 10-year-old, Secret Asset (7.10), could be the answer to a decent sprint handicap back at Chelmsford. He showed signs of a return to form when third over an extra furlong here last time and can race off a mark of 81 having been competitive from marks in the high 90s within the last 12 months.
Tipping Competition, day four
Our winners so far:
Monday
John Reel 15-8
Munsarim 9-2
Graphic 11-4
Tuesday
Amazing Blue Sky 3-1
Total Demolition 9-2
Secrets Safe 4-1
Wednesday
Quantum Dot 7-2
Third Strike 12-1
Merdon Castle 7-2
And our leaders are. . .
Paragoncup +12.13
15244 +8.88
Mai11 +4.88
. . . after Paragoncup was the only one to find the 12-1 shot yesterday found two of the winners yesterday.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 1.35 Taunton, 2.55 Wolverhampton and 3.10 Taunton.
This week’s prize is a couple of Premier tickets to Ascot for Saturday 14 February, featuring the Ascot Chase, won by Captain Chris, Cue Card and Riverside Theatre in recent years. Thanks to Ascot for offering the prize [ https://www.ascot.co.uk/ ]
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 -3.
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!
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