Wednesday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
I see that one of the possibilities now being discussed for a 28th race at the Cheltenham Festival is a race confined to female jockeys. It hadn’t really occured to me before and the obvious problem that might as well be faced is that there are hardly any women riders getting regular experience in jumps races. I’d guess that even quite committed followers of racing might struggle to name more than three.
But one of the reasons for that is that young women don’t look at jump racing and think ‘There’s a possible career for me’. Where are the female role models that might inspire young entrants to the sport?
Create a race at the Cheltenham Festival, the finish to which is fought out every year by a handful of women, and you might provide the spur that some people need. It’s a thought and makes more appeal to me than most of the other options being bandied about, all of which would involve taking runners from other races that already exist.
To be honest, my instinct is to side with Alan Lee in The Times the other day, when he suggested that what we really need is fewer races at the Festival, no more than six per day. That sounds to me like the ideal opportunity to get ride of that flaming mares races that kept Quevega out of proper competition at the Festival for six consecutive years.
Masterful Act is a short price at Haydock today, with a 7lb penalty for a facile success at Huntingdon last week. But today’s race contains rather less in the way of dead wood and I think it may be worth taking him on with Lightentertainment (3.15), who has had a productive season.
He couldn’t get into the argument in the Betfair Hurdle last time but that’s hardly a deal-breaker in this context. Prior to that he’d won three on the bounce and still looks reasonably treated in the right circumstances. This is more his trip than the two miles he’s been contesting in his last couple of starts and I have hope that Tom Cannon can keep him handy enough to make his finishing effort count.
In the following race, Roberto Pegasus (3.50) is the day’s nap at 9-4 to follow up the success of his chasing debut at Plumpton last month. The runner-up, who was the only horse to finish within 15 lengths of him, won next time. Alan King’s runner has the drying ground in his favour and a flat track should help his jumping.
Tipping competition, day three
Our winners so far:
Monday
Pagham Belle 14-1
Oriental Relation 11-4
Gunna Be A Devil 11-2
Tuesday
Cowslip 8-1
Midnight Request 2-1
Black Narcissus 25-1
And our leader is …
… who was already in front before becoming the only person to pick Black Narcissus. That will make him hard to reel in! Fixxxer (+12) is his nearest pursuer with nine races left.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 3.35 Warwick, 3.50 Haydock, 5.45 Kempton.
This week’s prize is a copy of ‘How To Find The Crabbies Grand National Winner’, a 32-page guide by Paul Jones, to be published by Aintree at the end of next week. It will be largely trends-based but will also included profiles and interviews aimed at illuminating the famous race on 11 April.
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 -6.
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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