I will start tonight’s preview at Ascot and the handicap hurdle at 12.45. Fairoak Lad was a progressive young hurdler last season and should be sharper for his run at Perth where he was 3rd to Valerius. Arrayou ran consistently over hurdles last season and has dropped a couple of pounds in the handicap since finishing 3rd in a better race at Cheltenham. These would be my main fancies with a preference for Fairoak Lad.
The 1.55 features a numbers of horses with Champion or World Hurdle pretensions and it should be an informative race. Crack Away Jack was giving over a stone to Squadron when winning at Chepstow and Alan King’s horse has since franked the form. Chomba Womba ran out a most impressive winner at Wincanton and comes from a stable in sublime form. Franchoek is most likely to go down the World Hurdle route as he needs at least two miles. He won 4 times last season and also ran well at both the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals. Paul Nicholls saddles Elusive Dream who has won 5 times over hurdles and will love the trip and ground. Not an easy one to solve this but for my tip I am going with Chomba Womba.
In the 2.30 Poquelin is likely to be popular but I am inclined to take him on with the unexposed Cheating Chance. He won nicely at Stratford last month and is open to further improvement.
Red Harbour showed a turn of foot to win a point in May and is well regarded by trained Paul Nicholls. He is my tentative choice for the bumper that closes the Ascot programme at 3.40.
There are only 5 runners in the 12.30 at Haydock but a case could be made for them all. Dolessthanme was a dual bumper winner last season and got off the mark at the first time of asking over hurdles at Kelso. He has AP McCoy in the saddle and gets my selection.
According to Pete has plenty going for him in the handicap hurdle at 1.05. He was 3rd in a handicap at the Cheltenham Festival last season and has already won twice this season in novice chases at Hexham. He has a pretty sound chance but I am going to nominate a couple of others that I like. Victor Dartnall had a winner today with Lodge Lane and I expect his runner, Russian Trigger to go well. He is a real chasing sort that could one day develop into a Grand National contender. He won twice over hurdles last season though and I expect him to give a good account of himself tomorrow. Bluegun, a former Irish point to point winner is another that will be going chasing before too long one suspects. He won over hurdles at Uttoxeter last season and finished 2nd back at the same track on his seasonal reappearance. Very lightly raced he is an interesting contender here. You can never ignore Paul Nicholls and the Ditcheat handler has Oberon Moon in this off a low weight with Harry Skelton taking off a further 5 lbs. A dour stayer who likes good ground he should be in the frame.
The 1.40 should be a penalty kick for Binocular while Kauto Star is hard to oppose in the 2.15. Cloudy Lane represents my list to follow and while he is a good horse he has plenty to find against the front 2.
Nirvana Swing won 3 races over fences for Sue Smith last season. He was pulled up on his return to the track at Cheltenham but is generally a good jumper that handles most types of ground and he has a bit of an each way squeak in the 2.45.
In the Huntingdon 12.05 Presenting Forever is an interesting runner. He could hardly be better bred. His sire is also responsible for War of Attrition and Denman while on the dam’s side he is related to Andy Pandy, Therealbandit and The Bajan Bandit. All of which means that 3 miles or more over fences is likely to be his game and anything g he does over the smaller obstacles will be a bonus. He may well pay his way over hurdles this season though.
Grancore Girl won bumpers at Clonmel and Limerick and makes her hurdles bow in the 1.10 at Gowran Park tomorrow. She looks fair value at around 8/1. I am also quite interested in Drumconvis in the 2.50. There are races to be won with him this season although he may want further that the 2.5 miles of tomorrow’s race.
Today’s pictures are by courtesy of the artist Katy Sodeau. See my links for further examples of her work.
Bye for now.
ahorse 