11.30am More Of That ruled out of World Hurdle at Cheltenham
Tony Paley: More Of That will not defend his Ladbrokes World Hurdle crown at the Cheltenham Festival and has been ruled out for the rest of this season.
Having lost his unbeaten record on his only run of the current campaign, the Jonjo O’Neill-trained runner then underwent a breathing operation. The horse had been on the comeback trail but it emerged two weeks ago that he had bled following a piece of work, putting his Festival participation in doubt.
Connections have now ruled out a return trip to Prestbury Park for Jonjo O’Neill’s charge. Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus, said: “The writing was on the wall a few weeks ago to be fair.”
“When he burst a few weeks ago we feared the worst,” added Berry. “He’s back in good form again with himself, but the Festival is just going to come too quick. So, we’ll give him a nice long break and bring him back refreshed in the autumn.”
11am Walsh believes Fever can cope with hot Champion pace
Tony Paley: Ruby Walsh has argued that Champagne Fever’s excellent course form will be an asset when he lines-up at the Cheltenham Festival.
The Willie Mullins-trained runner has won twice and finished second in three visits to the meeting. He currently has three entries with the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase seen as the most likely option.
If he does drop down to two miles, then Walsh expects Champagne Fever to be able to cope despite taking on top-class opposition headed by Sire De Grugy and Sprinter Sacre, the last two winners of the race.
“He’s in good form. Until he’s declared I suppose you never know, but that [Queen Mother] looks like where he’s going,” Walsh told Racing UK. “There are a few class horses in there - Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy. They are very good horses and both have had difficult campaigns.
“Dodging Bullets is the standard bearer and Mr Mole is a massive improver, but Champagne Fever’s record over two miles is very good - two from three and he was impressive last week so in what looks an open enough contest, he’d be a very good ride.”
Tuesday’s best bets, by Greg Wood
The best jumpers have entered their pre-Festival purdah, Class 5 is as good as it gets on the Flat at Lingfield and the weights for the Festival handicaps are not out until tomorrow, so this is really a day for punters to keep their money in their pockets and reconnect with the rest of their lives.
If that proves impossible, though, the veteran Matraash (3.40) is one who might reward an interest on the all-weather, as his price could reflect the fact that his recent wins have all come in sellers. Today’s race is not much of a step up from the basement grade, however, and there has been little sign of any age-related decline in Matraash’s form on his two starts this season. His latest second in a handicap at Wolverhampton was one of his best runs for some time, and Adam Kirby takes over in the saddle today.
At Leicester, the booking of Sam Twiston-Davies for Iona Days (4.50) in the last race is difficult to overlook as his father Nigel has an interesting new recruit in the same race, while Uno Valoroso (4.30) is the safest option in the two-mile handicap chase at Catterick.
Cheltenham Festival stat of the day
by Paul Jones, author of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide published by Weatherbys
The handicap weights are released on Wednesday (all 1,023 of them!) and for years and years they were all about trying to find the lightly weighed, plotted-up horse or the less exposed novices taking on the established guard towards the top of the weights. However, things are on the change and we had better keep up or these races can undo your good work in the Grade Ones. This is what happened in eight of last season’s 11 handicaps for example: Savello defied a higher handicap rating than any Grand Annual winner for 22 years, Holywell became the highest rated-winner of the Ultima Business Solutions Handicap Chase for 15 years, Whisper beat the previous record-high winning rating for the Coral Cup by as much as 5lb, the top weight (Fingal Bay) beat the second top-weight (Southfield Theatre) into second in the Pertemps Final, Balthazar King carried top weight and a joint-record high mark of 150 to victory in the Cross Country, the 1-2-3-4 in the Plate could all be found in the first seven in the handicap, the 1-2-3 in the Kim Muir carried 11st 6lb+ and Don Poli carried joint-third top weight to success in the Martin Pipe. Therefore, the question we now have to ask is whether this was a crazy one-off year or a flavour of things to come?
The Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide is published on 20 February and available online via www.weatherbysshop.co.uk or by calling 01933 304776
Tipping competition, day two
Our winners so far:
Monday
Flemi Two Toes 4-1
Bobs Lady Tamure 3-1
No Deal 2-1
And our leaders are. . .
Crasivo +6
Blitzwing +6
topnap +6
orso +6
. . . who all had Flemi Two Toes and Bobs Lady Tamure. Other doubles were achieved by JimmyDeuce (+5) and wiggy12 (+4).
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 4.10 Lingfield, 4.50 Leicester, 5.00 Catterick.
This week’s prize is a copy of the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide, by Paul Jones. The famous guide to winner-finding at those four days in March is now in its 16th year and more prized than ever. If you don’t win, you can buy a copy here.
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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