Neither of the selections from last night’s preview actually ran so at least we had no losers!
The 3 day Cheltenham meeting starts tomorrow and I will concentrate mainly on that. The day kicks off with an amateur riders handicap chase at 1.15. Hoopy won the race last year and although he has gone up in the weights since then I am hopeful that he will run a big race again. He is ridden by one of the best amateurs around and he has had a recent run over hurdles so should be fit.
The 1.50 looks tricky with a couple of decent Irish challengers plus a promising Paul Nicholls runner. Some Present was runner up in the Champion bumper at Cheltenham in the spring and has since won over hurdles at Punchestown. He was subsequently beaten in a falsely run race and that run can probably be ignored. Loosen My Load won bumpers at Cork and Galway, the latter a particularly competitive event beating The Jigsaw Man. He then won over hurdles at Listowel before being beaten into 2nd spot in a Grade 3 race at Tipperary. A big chasing type he may want further than 2 miles in time. Tito Bustillo won twice on the flat in France before joining Paul Nicholls, one of those wins coming in a valuable handicap at Longchamp. He got off the mark in good style over hurdles at Chepstow. Not an easy one to call but Some Present sets a fair standard and he will do for me.
I do not have a particularly strong view on the 2.25. Ferdy Murphy has his horses running well and he has Beggars Cap in this, a horse who needs good ground to be seen at his best. If conditions are in his favour he would be my tentative suggestion.
Garde Champetre and Silver Birch (pictured below) finished first and second in the La Touche Cup at Punchestown in April. I fancy Garde Champetre to confirm the form in the 3.00 tomorrow particularly as he has the benefit of a recent run.
My short list for the 4.05 consists of Little Josh and Knockara Beau. I will let my readers decide between them.
I have a couple of selections at Newcastle. 12.25 Premier Sagas and 12.55 Lord Larsson. The former was one of the better bumper horses in the north last season. Lord Larsson was a consistent performer over hurdles last season but unseated his rider early on when making his chase debut at Bangor. He looks a chasing type and hopefully will give us a run for our money.
Bye for now
The picture of Silver Birch is by courtesy of the artist Sarah Aspinall.
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