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.
It’s almost cliché to discuss how a single horse can unite a nation under one umbrella, but it’s worth mentioning that all eyes will be firmly-fixed on Japanese mare Buena Vista (Special Week) as the Hiroyoshi Matsuda-trained miss will have a run at the 2011 Dubai World Cup this Saturday. You could only imagine the cheers and uplifted spirits on an island recovering from a nearly indescribable series of disasters if the Japanese-bred crosses the line first against a cadre of international racing superstars. That is the power of horse racing.
It won’t be a Dubai debut for the reigning Tenno Sho winner as she acquitted herself very well to take second in the Group 1 Sheema Classic on World Cup day last year. That prior run in Dubai, coupled with a lay-off...
An undefeated two year-old campaign set Cape Blanco up nicely for a successful run at the European three year-old division in 2010 as the AP O’Brien-trained chestnut was able to notch prestigious scores in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes and the Irish Derby, in addition to a Group 2 score in the Dante Stakes at York.
During his three year-old season, he got the better of Rip Van Winkle (Galileo), Midas Touch (Galileo) and the venerable Workforce (King’s Best). The stretch out in distance in the Arc De Triomphe was an indication that he probably won’t excel past the 1m4f distance but finding the answers to those types of questions are what high-quality connections do.
This will be a seasonal debut for Cape Blanco and, without a run over the Meydan...
With the world’s richest horse race less than a week away from us, we’ll be taking the next few days to get a firm gauge on how things are expected to shape up for this Saturday’s Dubai World Cup. A number of the leading ante post contenders have been withdrawn in recent days for a variety of reasons and, at the time of this writing, Snow Fairy (Intikhab), Bold Silvano (Silvano), and Byword (Peintre Celebre) have all been removed.
Twice Over (Observatory) remains the major betting favourite for this one and the Henry Cecil-trained six year-old horse made a major statement when conquering the third round of the Al Maktoum Challenge. This comes on the heels of his relatively forgettable run in 2010 when he finished a well-beaten tenth from fourteen.
There was plenty of excellent action on display at Cheltenham on Thursday and the final day of the festival is now upon us. The forecast calls for heavy rain over night though the sun should be out on the course by the time punters begin showing up. It will be interesting to see whether the ground is still rated as soft once the Gold Cup is set to run.
JCB Triumph Hurdle
There’s a fairly big field going 2m1f in the openerand a number of exciting young contenders line up in this one. Sam Winner grabs the eye and will definitely be in the mix on the run-in. He trades as low as 7/1 while First Fandango is a supremely interesting option at a massive 50/1. He has just switched over to hurdles from a relatively successful flat career. He is undefeated over hurdles and...
This is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing Cheltenham Gold Cup’s in many a year and the prospect of three past winners coming back makes it especially tantalizing. It’s also shaping up to be a fairly good betting race, which makes it the must-play fixture on the day’s card.
Imperial Commander is an impressive specimen and he boasts plenty of talent – that’s not in dispute. What is in dispute is the ability to come out and beat this talented field off a single run and a racecourse gallop. Connections will probably opt to put him just off the pace again but if the ground proves to be as soft as I expect tomorrow, he may wind up extending himself a bit too much and may not be able to maintain that rapid pace he likes as he goes over each...
The American contingent arrived in Dubai today and several of them will be having a go at the 2011 Dubai World Cup – the richest prize on thoroughbred racing. The annual face-off in Dubai brings together an absolutely impressive field from all four corners of the globe. Everybody’s here for the same reason and the field looks to have some standout contenders and a number of talented outsiders.
Twice Over (Observatory) certainly deserves his status as the betting favourite with a sensation score in his seasonal debut at Meydan. He’d been laid-off from October 16th to come back and score on March 3rd in the third round of the Al Maktoum Challenge – against one of the toughest fields assembled in that high-profile series. The ability to hit...
The Cheltenham Festival showpiece is almost upon us and it’s going to be a very interesting story in this year’s Gold Cup as three former winners return to stake their claim. The going now appears to be one of the biggest stories going into the competition as it appears that 4-5mm of rain is in the forecast for Friday morning and the clerk of the course at Cheltenham has declared that we can likely expect going to be rated as soft should the forecast prove correct.
Imperial Commander clings to his status as the outright betting favourite but he’s lukewarm at a 7/2 price tag. He’s only been out once this year and he’s put in some really credible performances in the past but he flourished over good going last year and could struggle with the softer...
An impressive £150,000 is up for grabs to the winner of the premier hurdling event on the National Hunt circuit and, if the odds are anything to go by, this one is shaping up to be a two-horse race.
Big Buck’s is a truly impressive specimen and he deserves all the respect that he’s gotten in recent years. The talented Paul Nicholls-trained gelding has the measure of the hurdling circuit and is seeking his third World Hurdle on the bounce. Interestingly, he debuted on the chase scene and then switched to hurdles and has found a huge amount of success. In fact, Big Buck’s only real blemish is when he unseated Sam Thomas in the Hennessy Gold Cup Chase back in November of 2008.
Big Buck’s continues to hit near career-high numbers and has...
A fantastic day for the Irish on Wednesday at Cheltenham as attention now turns to the Thursday card and it’s six races. We’ll be taking a look at each of them here and attempting to gauge how things might shape up.
Jewson Novices’ Chase
Wishfull Thinking headlines an eleven-strong field for this 2m4f novice chase. He’s been in solid form this year and justifies his favourites status while still delivering a somewhat respectable price at around 11/4. If he holds there it’s not a bad wager at the price on the win-only as his last outing was a course and distance score over the talented Calgary Bay. That victory built on a previous second-place effort to Reve De Sivola at Cheltenham back in December. The Walsh/Nicholls pairing gets up on 5/1...
It’s definitely tough to bet against Time For Rupert in this one and I reckon he might very well live up to the hype. So far, he is undefeated over fences and has put in some extremely credible shifts over hurdles in recent years as well. His biggest statement over the short obstacles came last year when he finished second to the legendary Big Buck’s and also put in a second-place finish to the respected Tidal Bay.
His last five races have all comes at Cheltenham with the last two being run over the chase circuit – both of which were victories. The punters were expected to bet him down heavily in this one but the 9/4 price he carried in the ante post market has risen slightly to an 11/4 price tag. If he holds around there he is a relatively sharp bet.
