Looking at today's racing on the train on to the way into the office this morning, there looked by be very little in the way of value at the two meetings at Doncaster and Huntington, and it may well be a day for fav's winning. As you may tell from the blog title, I was hoping for some decent odds about MASTERPLAN at Huntingdon in the Class 3 handicap chase over 2m4f at 2:40pm as the expected fav Pougne Bobbi looks a bit dodgy. unfortunately, the best odds available are 9/4 and to be fair I was hoping for longer than 11/4.
The next race on the Huntingdon card is the Class 2, 3-mile handicap hurdle and so long as the Nicky Henderson trained Protek Des Flos stays this trip - and he should - then it is difficult to see one that may beat him. This horse is Barry Geraghty's only ride here today. For the money and grade, the race lacks a bit of depth and the consistent and proven stayer on the ground Arthurs Gift may be best for a "place-only" wager or betting without the fav. It's possible that Easter Day may run the best of the rest as he's having his first run form trainer Oliver Sherwood but it all depends on how fit his is as he's not run since last May.
Doncaster is interesting as Nicky Henderson has only one runner there - and he has a tremendous strike-rate at Doncaster - and that's CRACKING DESTINY in the Class 5 Maiden Hurdle race at 1:25pm. Not only that, but he's sent Nico De Boinville there for the ride (his only one of the day) so that suggests to me that they mean business. If you are happy taking the 11/4 on offer about a horse that's having his hurdling debut, then you have a lot of ticks in the boxes with this one.
There are only 4 runners in the 3-mile Novice Chase at 1:55pm and I think it may be worth taking on the odds-on fav in this race with Wotzizname as Harry Fry has won with 6 of his 10 runners in chase races at Doncaster in recent years, and this is his only runner at Doncaster today. He didn't do well at Cheltenham LTO, but that looked a tough race to me for this novice, and he could well recoup losses today.
The 3-mile chase at 3:05pm will be run over C&D for the Skybet Chase tomorrow, and there are several in this race that catch my eye. Capard King seems to have "bottomed-out" having been rated OR139 2 years ago, and if he can build on his run LTO (ran 3rd here over 3m2f) he could be interesting off OR118 as he's still only a 9yo. All eye's will be on Bako De La Saulaie as this lightly raced 7yo holds plenty of potential as a chaser but this will be only his 2nd chase race, it may be he still needs the experience and his odds of 7/2 hold no interest to me. The other horse I like is Captain Mowbray who has looked an improved horse over 3-mile. Overall, I will be watching this race rather than punting on it.
Earlier this week, the Racing Post were good enough to provide the form for the Skybet Handicap Chase to be run at Doncaster at 3:15pm tomorrow, and one horse jumped out at me when I read the form - WARRIORS TALE. His run LTO at Newbury when beaten a neck by Gold Present looks very good form now as that horse won at Ascot NTO and is now rated 13lb higher on OR155. Warriors Tale is racing off OR147 which is just 4lb higher than when he met Gold Present at Newbury. The horse handles soft ground, should stay this trip as he's won over 3-mile before and trainer Paul Nicholls has pulled out one of the early market leaders in Frodon (that horse goes to Cheltenham) and relies on Warriors Tale. I'm on at 14/1 eachway (£5 each way, £10 win).
I'm attending Cheltenham tomorrow, so there may not be a blog on Saturday. If there is I will post a link on twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment