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With just a week and a bit from the 2012 Cheltenham Festival we're starting to get down to crunch time in preparing for the de facto world championships of steeplechasing. All the best jumpers from across the land will be lining up for the penultimate race in their divisions. A number will continue on to races at Aintree or Punchestown but Cheltenham bragging rights are well and truly up for grabs with a number of open contests this year.
Concerns about especially firm going have been eased now that a good spate of rain was received over the weekend. Approximately 12mm of rain fell on the track.
West End Rocker has been earning the plaudits since turning on the afterburners to triumph at Aintree in the Becher Chase back in early December. The selectively-raced ten-year-old has only been out twice this season and was ultimately pulled up in his first effort at Cheltenham when contesting a Grade 3 handicap chase.
The Cheltenham effort rounded off a tough three-race series for the Alan King-trained bay or brown gelding. He came into 2011 looking like he had finally found form after back to back scores at Newbury and Warwick before being pulled up at Haydock in February and then brought down at Bechers when contesting the...
Things are definitely heating up in the ante post markets as the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup picture has become much clearer in recent weeks. Long Run remains the outright betting favourite for this widely-anticipated contest while Kauto Star is the clear second choice. The living-legend has seen his price drop significantly over the course of the National Hunt season and he will likely take a substantial amount of money on the day after stringing together a number of cracking performances this year to wrest the momentum back in his favour.
A perfect three-from-three record for the 2011/12 National Hunt season has set up Sprinter Sacre nicely for the favourites position ahead of this year's Arkle Chase. He was sent off as a prominent favourite in the Betfair Super Saturday Chase at Newbury and really solidified his credentials as bookmakers took him into even money for the first-day clash at Cheltenham.
One of his main advantages heading into this one is that he's already seen off the majority of the challengers in this one so punters may want to steer most of their wagers towards some of the longer odds selections as they still carry a bit of mystery about...
Word has emerged in the Racing Post that Paul Nicholls yard may be suffering from a slight epidemic as several horses in the yard are reported to be coughing. Only a short period of time remains before the festival kicks off in a few weeks and Nicholls has not been his usual winning self in the festival build-up with nary a winner from his sixteen entries on Saturday alone.
A media event at his Ditcheat stable was cancelled for Wednesday.
Nicholls reiterated that his priority was the owners of his charges and that the yard needed to buckle down and focus on getting them all back to form before festival time kicks...
We're still at the early declaration stage for the upcoming Super Saturday fixture at Newbury with several graded contests set to unfold in what is a relatively important time during the National Hunt season with many contenders looking to get their final preps in prior to festival time. The weather is expected to cooperate and Newbury is fully expected to beat the freeze.
The current rating is good to soft and soft in places under the covers. It has also been reported that the rails have been moved in so that there is roughly 6 meters of fresh ground on the inside. All hurdles are said to be set up fresh ground as well....
A thrilling day of racing is upon us at Newbury on February 11 and one of the big highlights is going to be Paul Nicholls promising jumper Zarkandar lining up for his seasonal debut with an eye firmly-fixed on a festival campaign. With just a single run under his belt last season (a victory at Kempton in the Grade 2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle), Zarkandar was able to score in the JCB Triumph Hurdle and the Matalan 4-Y-O at Aintree just a few weeks later.
Impressive in both victories and still looking very much like Paul Nicholls is still yet to scratch the surface of his talent, the promising hurdler is listed as low as 10/3 for the upcoming clash against some of the most...
What a battle we have ahead of us in the 2012 Irish Hennessy at Leopardstown on February 12. Easily some of the most talented chasers in the whole of Ireland will be pursuing this one and there's a lot to like about several of the contenders here. The field is so deep that a number of the double digit runners look quite plausible for this one so you can expect a lot of interesting swings in the ante post wagering as we draw closer to the off.
Captain Chris unseated Richard Johnson on his first effort of the year when sent out of the gate as a 2/1 favourite but he calmed himself down nicely to perform to expectations in the King George. Look for a slightly more aggressive ride this time – he will only go to the back if the pace up front is much too quick and you don't really expect it to be. He has a big opportunity here to set something up for himself in the Gold Cup and will do his ante post backers plenty of favours by taking this one emphatically.
Captain Chris unseated Richard Johnson on his first effort of the year when sent out of the gate as a 2/1 favourite but he calmed himself down nicely to perform to expectations in the King George. Look for a slightly more aggressive ride this time – he will only go to the back if the pace up front is much too quick and you don't really expect it to be. He has a big opportunity here to set something up for himself in the Gold Cup and will do his ante post backers plenty of favours by taking this one emphatically.
