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.
Pateese gets a big penalty and will be top of the weights here despite being in the mix during most of his last few contests. Though he is a competitive 13/2 for this one you just don’t see him being able to carry that type of weight over heavy ground when you take those last couple of races in true context.
We have a very winnable scoop6 ahead of us tomorrow as the two feature races from Newbury are supplanted with four contests happening on the all weather at Lingfield. This one will require a bit of skill as you’re jumping between all weather form and a pair of tough handicap hurdles.
The real onion in the ointment here is the Betfair Hurdle as you’ve just got so many big entries to deal with but you do sort of get the feeling that this particular iteration of the race is likely to be won by one of the key fancies in the top four so getting too adventurous likely won’t pay off with this one. Don’t really be looking for a winner less likely than Swing Bowler who is floating at around 20s and even she’s just a good each-way fancy.
Vendor has just seen his odds drop significantly as well and he is anywhere from 12/1 to 14/1 with a price that’s looking to be relatively popular across the board. He didn’t get much done on his first effort of the year but he was victorious last time out and deserves respect here as a genuine dark horse.
He has really emerged as a genuine outside wager here and his price is beginning to fall accordingly with more books placing him at a price of around 12/1 than we’re seeing 14/1. That has been a relatively late development so you will have...
With only 2m110y to work with, there is little margin for error here - particularly with a field this big. A full field of 21 looks set to contest this one and there’s going to be a few interesting fancies in the leading pack - as well as a few of the longer odds selections. Needless to say, this is a race that could easily be won by a significant ante post fancy.
One of the really big stories here is Swing Bowler who returns to action after a lengthy amount of time on the bench. He’s generally floating around 16/1 with a few books, but we have also...
In what really looked like an ante post dead heat for quite some time we saw Irish Saint and Irving both competing for the favourites position in the widely-anticipated Betfair Hurdle kicking off this Saturday on a stellar card to be presented at Newbury. Though going concerns wound up vanquishing the potent hurdlers likelihood of appearing in this contest before the festival, it remains to be seen whether Irish Saint will really be able to deliver with his chief rival withdrawn from consideration.
Many books have Cheltinian trading at a competitive price of 10/1 and it’s clear that this race could be very interesting if he gets the right type of trip.
Dell’Arca was able to get his season started off in a big way by winning the Grade 3 Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham back in November and then he made a run at the Grade 3 Ladbroke Hurdle. He unseated Tom Scudamore that day and David Pipe saw it fit to take him off the track for about a month and a half or so to get him freshened up and sharpen his jumping.
He was campaigned at some pretty obscure French tracks for the earlier portions of his career...
His most recent score was an emphatic eleven length victory in the Keltbray Holloway’s Hurdle. He was sent off at a 6/1 listing and really was able to flash some quality against a field that was fairly competitive despite being novice company.
Both Irving and Irish Saint are hovering around 6/1 or 7/1 with most major bookmakers and there is little between them at this point, though the odds fluctuating in the build-up to the race might just make things a bit more interesting. It’s also worth noting that Irving has an entry for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in about a month’s time while Irish Saint is...
One of the last really big handicap contests of the National Hunt season prior to the Cheltenham Festival is just about to kick off this weekend and we are looking forward to one of the most open iterations of this contest in recent memory. There is a lot to like about the contenders assembling here at Newbury and you can bank on their ability to get the job done over the 2m110y distance.
There are five solid runners who are all available at relatively similar prices though there is some pretty significant variance between the odds offered up on individual horses from various books.
He looks extremely likely to opt for the Arkle over his other entry - the Queen Mother Champion Chase. He trades at a 20/1 listing for that contest and would likely be outmatched by the calibre of competition on offer. However, if he was to pull off a victory in the Arkle this season then the Champion Chase is definitely in the cards for him during his 2014/15 campaign.
With his win over course and distance, you would say he’s a better shot at 7/1 than Champagne Fever at 4/1. It will be interesting to see where his price goes over the next two weeks and...
The second contest on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival is the Arkle Chase and this one always pits the real up-and-coming chasers up against other - though it can be a tricky ante post wager to make because, oftentimes, the bulk of the quality horses are also pointed at other races. It’s definitely worth keeping your eye on the other entries boasted by the horses you are watching ahead of the Arkle.
