Gold Cup hero Native River and King George winner Clan Des Obeaux are among 10 entries for Saturday’s Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury.
Colin Tizzard’s Native River is looking for a third successive win in the race but has plenty of ground to make up on Paul Nicholls’ Clan Des Obeaux, who finished over 13 lengths in front of him when bursting on to the big-race scene at Kempton on Boxing Day.
“At Kempton he jumped out to the left. That’s twice he has been there, and he hasn’t been at ease,” said Tizzard. “He stayed on well at Kempton – that’s all we can take out of the race. I think he is almost unbeaten at Newbury, so this was always going to be our prep race. I think the King George winner is going there as well. But this is our prep race for the Gold Cup.
“I think the course at Newbury will suit him better. He is a strong stayer and he has very good form round Newbury. We will see what the entries are like. If they have the forecast rain and it’s good to soft, he’ll be there.”
Nicholls, of course, trained Denman – winner of the 2008 edition of this Grade Two event, and it has carried his name since 2012. Nicholls’ most recent success came a year later with Silviniaco Conti. Coneygree, winner of the Gold Cup in 2015, has been entered by Mark and Sara Bradstock. He picked up another minor injury when unseating in the King George.
Leopardstown’s loss on Sunday could potentially be Newbury’s gain, with two who were supposed to run in the Irish Gold Cup but pulled out because of the ground now in the mix. Tony Martin’s Gold Cup third Anibale Fly and Gordon Elliott’s Noble Endeavor could make the journey over. Nicky Henderson has entered Beware The Bear, following his good win last time out, and Gold Present. Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Ballyhill, Tom Lacey’s Thomas Patrick and Harry Fry’s The Last Samuri complete the 10. Press Association
Monday’s best bets, by Greg Wood
The worst of the wintry weather seems to have eased for the moment at least, and while Monday’s scheduled card at Carlisle was abandoned on Sunday morning, rain has washed away the snow at Taunton and a seven-race card will go ahead as planned after a 7.30am GMT inspection. It was “never in doubt”, according to the track’s Twitter feed at any rate.
Three of the seven races currently have an odds-on favourite but there are some competitive contests elsewhere on the card including a handicap hurdle as the getting-out race which will set off “bad each-way” alerts across the betting industry if the current 16 runners all go to post.
Silver Quay (4.45) might look a little short at around 9-4 given the numbers but there is not much depth to the contest and he was a convincing winner of a similar race over course and distance last time out. Having Bryony Frost on your side aboard her father Jimmy’s runner is also a big plus.
Touch Kick (4.15) is another course winner, albeit over hurdles, and won his seasonal debut at Hereford in November off a mark just 2lb lower than here. He could find a little more improvement for this step up to three miles.
A £19,000 conditions event is the feature event on the all-weather card at Wolverhampton and Oh This Is Us (5.55) could be up to giving away 3lb to his field. Richard Hannon’s runner has not been to the track since a sub-par run in Italy in October but he won after a similar break last February and Ryan Moore’s booking looks significant.
Prerogative (6.25) and Hanakotoba (7.55) should both go well on the same card while Billyoakes (3.30) could be overpriced for the sprint handicap at Chelmsford.
Taunton
1.45 Southfield Stone 2.15 Third Wind
2.45 Demon Fou 3.15 Midnight Chill
3.45 Presidente Line 4.15 Touch Kick
4.45 Silver Quay (nb)
Chelmsford City
2.00 Don’t Do It 2.30 Little Miss Kodi
3.00 Gold Club 3.30 Billyoakes
4.00 Foxy Boy 4.30 Gantier
Wolverhampton
4.55 Dark Confidant 5.25 Secondo
5.55 Oh This Is Us (nap) 6.25 Prerogative
6.55 Anif 7.25 Aigiarne 7.55 Hanakotoba
8.25 Marhaban
