Welcome to the BettingChoice Horse Racing Blog. Here you'll find all the tips, insights and opinions for the world's biggest races including: Cheltenham, Breeders' Cup, Dubai Racing, the Grand National and more.
Now that Silviniaco Conti is in the mix his price could drift, particularly as punters get carried away with reports of racecourse gallops and stable rumours of each-way contenders being in cracking form begin to see attentions drawn in other directions on the ante post list.
Shutthefrontdoor is as low as 18/1 but a few bookmakers have him priced at a 20/1 margin to pull off a big national victory. He has won on his seasonal debut last year in a Class 2 chase and then mustered up a fifth place finish in the national. This year he finished third on his seasonal debut and is now headed...
Things just got very interesting in the ante post market for the 2016 Grand National since the Paul Nicholls yard has firmly pointed Silviniaco Conti towards the Grand National, sending prices tumbling down to as low as 10/1 with various bookmakers. There are still a few offering up 14/1 while the majority float the talented chaser at a 12/1 listing.
He has been out four times already this season and has only managed a single victory as he stormed home by a massive 20 length margin with his usual pilot Noel Fehily in the irons in the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase...
The main spoilers here for Douvan appear to include Vaniteux and Ar Mad with Vaniteux looming as the slightly shorter-priced option. He comes into the race fresh off a victory in the Grade 2 Lightning Novices’ Chase at Doncaster back in late Janury when he was sent off at a 6/4 margin. Prior to that he was defeated by Ar Mad at Kempton the day after boxing day despite being sent off at an odds-on price of 10/11.
The Arkle is one of the big races on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and it’s usually a race that attracts one major stand-out contender and a large selection of cross-entered contenders who may or may not dip out at the last minute and opt for an easier time of things amongst much more even types of competition.
It’s always important to take a look at the other entries for the major rivals here in order to get your ante post wagers down in the right way. This is a tricky time of year for many ante post punters since the prices aren’t a huge amount shorter...
Min’s main rivals appear to be a trio of contenders - Altior, Buveur D’Air and Yorkhill. Of the three, Altior trades as the shorter selection with most bookmakers pricing him as a general 5/1 margin. His price is short because he is only pointed at this race unlike some of the others in the mix here who are pointed at the other novice hurdle contests.
Altior will be seeking his fifth score on the bounce as he has put together a great body of work in partnership with Nico De Boinville so far this season. His last victory was a particularly eye-...
We are getting closer by the day to the 2016 Cheltenham Festival and the big opening contest is always the most overbet race of the festival but always one of the most exciting. There are two types of Supreme Novice iterations and they either boast a very strong very hyped favourite horse who stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of punter support, or there is a three or fourway battle for the position as lukewarm favourite.
Don Cossack runs for Gordon Elliott’s yard and he comes in off a relatively solid performance against an up-and-down group in a Grade 2 contest at Thurles. He was sent off as the betting favourite when he ran in the King George but it was a disastrous day for punters backing the favourite as he fell two from home when it mattered most.
He was third in the Ryanair Chase last year at the festival and fell in the RSA Chase back in 2014. He’s really just not had a lot of luck at Cheltenham but many think he’s good enough to turn that around this...
We are just a couple of weeks away from the big de facto finale to the National Hunt racing season with the Cheltenham Festival nearly upon us. There are so many fascinating races that are set to unfold over the multi day festival and you can bank on the big feature contest - the Cheltenham Gold Cup - to be one of the most eagerly anticipated.
There is a lot to like about the Gold Cup this year and we have a very tough five way battle for the favourites position with a number of talented contenders all in the mix at very comparable prices.
However one of the most interesting things is the price cut for Keen Ice who was one of the few horses to actually ever get the better of American Pharaoh and he has gone from a 16/1 margin down to a 10/1 price tag right now with several local bookmakers.
Intilaaq is probably the highest rated local contender for the Dubai World Cup and he is considered to be a general 10/1 price tag with most major bookmakers but he could be up against some stiff foreign competition for the big race here and you can expect his price to drift a bit unless he can pick off a significant victory prior to the big contest.
Mubtaahij has seen his price take a big hit after losing today and looking like he actually failed to even change leads in the stretch. It was a seasonal debut...
With so many American superstar horses in the mix for the Dubai World Cup this year, the odds market took a very interesting twist today as they have now begun to actually hit the track and take on prep races in lieu of just shipping in for the big day as was big in the past.
Frosted, who was made to look ordinary by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, took to the surface at Meydan and was able to pull off an emphatic seasonal debut where he triumphed at a 4/5 margin over a relatively weak field in the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge.
California Chrome is aimed at a handicap race next week and he remains the betting favourite to secure the big contest in late March with several bookmakers listing him as low as a 5/2 margin for the Dubai World Cup...
