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.
Both contenders are expected to get prep races in Dubai with California Chrome’s owners seemingly insistent that he would have performed better if he had a local prep the year before. Expect this one to be a much more tactical Dubai World Cup than ever before with so many Americans set to contest the dirt surface.
Mubtaahij is a well-known quantity to American racing fans since he was such a prominent part of the Triple Crown trail. A lot of different contenders were showing up at various points during American Pharoah’s romp through the US Classics but Mubtaahij earned himself plenty of American fans and you can expect them to show him some support here as many believe that he is at his best when racing at Meydan.
We are only a couple of weeks away from the big faceoff at Meydan racecourse in the Dubai World Cup and there is a lot to like about this years iteration of the race particularly if you are a big fan of American racing and know a lot about their older handicap division since there are quite a few of them who look to be punching it out here in the desert as plenty of betting options are available out there for punters.
California Chrome who was able to muster up a very credible second place finish last year is looking like the leading contender here and he is already in Dubai after flying out of his homebase in Los Angeles just a couple of days ago. A lot of observers really think he has what it takes to win the race and will be a force to be reckoned with if he is able to...
Storm Belt is in the mix here but the odds then take a big jump to Plantaganet - who has won in Meydan in the past - but trades at a hefty 33/1 margin at this point.
Next up we have another odds-on favourite Godolphin entry as Safety Check is set for his seasonal debut after being freshened since September of 2015. He didn’t necessarily finish last season in his best form but he strung together a great series of performances in Dubai prior to shipping out to Goodwood in July of last year.
He trades at an odds-on price of about 10/11 right now and there is a lot of opportunity for him to get home and perform to the expectations of the punters. There is some real talent in here up against him though and you have to assume taht he will perhaps need the...
There are some really solid looking races that are going to unfold at Meydan on Thursday and you can bank on a number of interesting betting opportunities as well. There are seven races set to go now and a number of tough handicaps are set to offer up a challenging puzzle to punters across the world looking to bet on the best that Dubai has to offer.
The opening race is the District One Villas Handicap and you’ve got a pretty compact wagering field with Etijaah emerging as the basic favourite right now with a 3/1 margin. Behind him is the likes of Godolphin’s Zephuros and he’s priced as short as 4/1 right now. It will be interesting to see how the late money affects things.
Enery comes into this one looking to improve off that second place finish...
After winning his first hurdles race by a whopping 34 length margin when sent off as the 5/6 favourite, Altior then took a Class 3 hurdle at Ascot and then was able to capture the Grade 2 Supreme Novices Hurdle Trial by a half length margin in a testing battle with Maputo.
He was out at Kempton on Boxing Day and took a Class 2 novice hurdle by a solid margin of 13 lengths. He appears to be coming into the festival going great guns but he lacks the notable buzz of a recent score like Min does. At the time of this writing, many consider the Nicky Henderson charge to be England’s best chance to open their account on day one.
Another interesting contender to enter the mix is Yorkhill who is one of the stand out young novice hurdlers in Willy Mullins yard...
We’ve got another really exciting iteration of the perennial opener of the Cheltenham Festival this year as the Supreme Novices Hurdle appears to be a rather fascinating affair. The build-up to the race, which is always overbet considering its placement at the festival, had been rather subdued this year but punters are now piling on after a genuine favourite emerged at Punchestown.
Min, a five-year-old by Walk In The Park, rocketed to fame by capturing the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer Hurdle by nearly ten lengths after emerging in a Punchestown maiden back in mid-December.
He defeated a tough group of 21 contenders on that day in his maiden effort and the massive 14 length margin had punters excited for his next outing, which saw him come out of the gates at a...
Punters will find Muarrab trading as low as a 6/4 listing right now.
Reynaldothewizard is next up in terms of the wagering and he also comes into this race with plenty of solid recent form if you go back to his season last year. He was doing really well having taken two on the bounce - including a solid Group 3 effort at Meydan - but then has been off since last February.
He was always a tough competitor and he has been slogging it out with the best over the past couple of years but was never really able to replicate the 2013 form when he was able to capture the Dubai Golden Shaheen after three undefeated runs at Meydan racecourse. Krypton Factor is in the mix here if you’re looking for a longer odds selection with a decent 16/1 margin right now...
Polar River only has the single race under her belt but looks to be getting a lot of credit from the bookmakers here with a solid second place price of around 5/2. That’s signifcant when you figure that she comes into the race just behind a contender with Group level victories.
It was a massive thirteen length victoty on the debut at Meydan and many will be expecting her to kick on once again here and at least give Promising Run a bit of competition. She is up second time and could be set to improve off that last contest at Meydan.
Next up we’ve got the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial with Steady Pace now considered to be the bookmakers choice for the big victory. The Godolphin trainee hasn’t won since scoring at Ascot in a maiden contest last year...
We have a really interesting card set to kick off on Thursday morning at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. After things started with a really interesting opening days fixture at Meydan we now continue with a few solid looking key prep races races for other contests that will be happening later on during the Carnival calendar as we get closer to March.
The opening contest is the Mina Rashid going one mile on the dirt surface at Meydan racecourse. Sheikh Hamdan’s Nathr looks to be the key selection here as a lukewarm favourite carrying a three to one price tag at the moment. Stormardal was able to open his account for the year on New Year’s Day and he comes in as the second favourite here with a solid 5/1 listing being floated by the bookmakers at the moment. ...
Prior to that he had actually been beaten by Don Cossack in the Punchestown Gold Cup last year. Before that he had finished a very close second to Coneygree in the Cheltenham Gold Cup itself and nearly delivered at a 10/1 price tag. That’s the basis for the gamble that is currently unfolding and has driven his price down towards a margin of about 7/2 with some books going 4/1 right now.
He will certainly take a large amount of support from the Irish punters (as will most of the big contenders here with relatively short prices) so you have to assume that if you’re going to back Djakadam now then you best get your money down and hope he stays healthy in the interim.
Don Poli had been a significant fancy for quite some time and appears to be picking...
