The first race on the card was the Paddy Power Handicap Chase and with conditions proving tiring there was a whole host of chances coming to the 2nd last. One of those was Lough Kent who appeared to be travelling really well before hitting the 2nd last and Nico De Boinville losing his irons and his chance. Those who had pressed the pace or led all seemed to fall in heap after the last with those finishing going past and this included Keel Haul who finished really well up the hill. Minella Present who was making his handicap debut also finished well to get up for 2nd and was probably […]

JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial

After a great first day at Cheltenham with clues a plenty we start the 2nd day with a JCB Triumph Hurdle trial. This race has been won by some smart horses in the past including Katchit, Franchoek, Sam Winner and Far West. Despite only 5 going to post this race looks a tasty event.

Oceane had some smart form on the flat including finished 3rd on debut behind Simple Verse a recent Cartier Award winner. Since being sent hurdling he has recorded two facile wins at Fontwell and Kempton and this step up in class is duly warranted. Alan King last won this in 2007 with Franchoek.

Romain De […]

With the final declarations now made for Day 1 at Cheltenham we take a closer look at the races.

Paddy Power Handicap Chase

The first race of the meeting is a 1m 7f 199y Handicap Chase where La Vaticane is favourite on chase debut for David Pipe. Martin Pipe had a great record at this meeting and his son David Pipe has a good record too and this one could well start the meeting with a win.

Having had just 1 run for David over hurdles the day after the Cheltenham Festival at Kempton he finished a good 2nd behind the Nicky Henderson trained Thienval who went on to win again at […]

The Hennessy Gold Cup could be very interesting this year as last years Gold Cup winner Coneygree is due to run (currently Don Cossack heads the weights but is unlikely to run and the weights would be raised 3lb), this would mean that some very smart horses would be carrying much lower weights than they would normally in handicaps such as last years RSA Chase winner Don Poli 11-3, 2013 Hennessy Gold Cup runner up Rocky Creek 11-00, 2014 Hennessy Gold Cup runner up Houblon Des Obeaux 10-10, twice placed in Cheltenham Gold Cup The Giant Bolster 10-10, unbeaten for Willie Mullins Mare Vroum Vroum Mag 10-5, 2012 Hennessy Gold […]

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday we return to Prestbury Park for the Open Meeting with the Paddy Power Handicap Chase and the Greatwood Hurdle the two feature races on Saturday and Sunday respectively. As it stands recent Cheltenham winner Boondooma and RSA 6th Kings Palace are joint favourites for the Paddy Power Chase whilst there are 3 joint favourites in Mick Jazz, Nabucco and Superb Story in the Greatwood Hurdle.

On the Friday we start off with a just shy of 2m handicap chase including recent David Pipe recruit Le Vaticane whilst former Cheltenham winners Sew On Target, Astracad and last years winner Bold Henry all engaged to run. We highlighted […]

One of our Novice Chasers to follow this season made his chase debut on Saturday at Wincanton in the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novice Chase. Despite going off favourite at 13/8 he was fairly weak in the market. The late money came for Junction Fourteen who had won on chase debut at Uttoxeter just under a month ago when making all. Dropping back 2 furlongs he once again made nearly all the running to win. On first impressions it would appear that Arpege D’Alene was disappointing to not be able to win however there are a number of factors that probably were against him and we feel he will end […]

The flat season drew to a close at Doncaster on Saturday and with all the rain around it meant the ground was heavy come race time and this certainly caused for a few shocks as well as gambles on those who loved soft ground. The feature race, The November Handicap was won this year by Litigant who added this to his Ebor win earlier this season. His trainer has done a great job with him as he has very brittle legs and the soft ground is not only needed but is a necessity.

With the Flat season over it’s time to turn to National Hunt racing and on Saturday we […]

Using our statistical analysis and our knowledge we have found some hurdlers and chasers that we feel will have big seasons running in handicaps or when they are sent to handicap events.

Kris Spin: Kris Spin has been handicapping in hurdle races already and has finished 2nd on 7 of his last 8 runs with 4 of these handicaps. His 2nd place finishes have been to some classy horses including Silsol who went on to win the Welsh Champion Hurdle and 2nd in the Grade 2 National Spirit Hurdle. His most recent 2nd was to Broadway Buffalo giving him 4lb. Broadway Buffalo has since finished in a Chase at the Cheltenham […]

In this blog we have a look at those horses coming from bumpers that we are looking forward to and that should be better for in Novice and handicap hurdles.

Bellshill: The first one is an obvious one, despite only finishing 10th in the Cheltenham Festival Champion Bumper he went on to finish 2nd in the Aintree Grade 2 Bumper before winning the Irish Grade 1 Champion Bumper at Punchestown when beating Disko, Modus and Charbel. Being by King’s Theatre he should improve for being sent hurdling and he could be very smart. King’s Theatre progeny have a 14.5% strike rate in bumpers compared to a very good 19.3% strike rate […]

The following horses have been identified as horses who could well be sent chasing and if so they should statistically improve. With a few of these this could make them very smart horses.

Vaniteux: Vaniteux won 2 of his first 3 races in the UK before running in the Supreme Novices Hurdle at the 2014 Cheltenham Festival. He ran really well to finish 3rd behind Vautour and Josses Hill. Unlike stablemate Josses Hill he was kept to hurdling last year and after finishing 2nd on his first 3 starts he was comfortably beaten in both the Champion Hurdle behind Faugheen and then behind Jezki in the Doom Bar hurdle at Aintree. […]