The Ladbroke Hurdle Betting Tips PT 1

We had a fantastic weekend of jumps racing just finish up and it’s already time to look ahead to one of the feature handicap hurdles of the entire National Hunt season as the Ladbroke is now upon us. This 2m contest over smaller obstacles is one of the big betting races of the pre-holiday season fixtures and you can bank on some very interesting movement in the odds as we get closer to the race. 

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The field right now remains at a full 41 runners and that will be whittled down in the next few days when we shed a significant portion of the field on Wednesday. Expect many of the better fancies to stay in this one and be well aware of the weight assignments as that can be as much of a make or break factor over the 2m distance as trip quality or decisions made by the jockey in-running. 

The top weight for this one is Garde La Victoire, who lines up for Philip Hobbs and looks set to carry 11st 9lb. He’s been out twice this year, losing his seasonal debut despite going off as the 5/2 favourite at Aintree in a Class 2 handicap hurdle. 

He was then able to follow that up with a much more impressive win in the Grade 3 Greatwood Hurdle - it’s definitely good to see a horse able to move up in quality after a place finish first-time off the freshening. He was carrying the same weight that he’s set to carry on Saturday and he also was able to best a full field of 15 contenders there so you know that the larger fields aren’t going to give him any trouble. 

He put in a very disappointing performance at the Cheltenham festival last year when finishing well off the pace in the Supreme Novices Hurdle 14/18 to Vautour. Prior to his last victory at Cheltenham, he had never been able to capture a graded race and that might actually put some off of him as they think he might have topped out there and will up against some more talented company here in a bigger money race. 

His official rating might be a shade higher than connections would really have you believe at this point so that’s likely the reason why we’re seeing him trading as the third favourite or so and currently being floated at a best price of 9/1.