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The 3:10 at Newbury is the day's feature – the Hennessy Gold Cup Chase. This is a big race with plenty of exciting contenders and there's a number of different directions this one could go in.
The betting favourite has been Aiteen Thirtythree for quite a while and Paul Nicholls has a tremendous record in this race. Stablemate Neptune Collonges enters carring a massive weight penalty – especially one for a horse that doesn't really win very often.
Aiteen Thirtythree finished second to Somersby in his first outing this year and didn't...
There's a really solid Scoop6 up for grabs this weekend with a sextet of races mixing it up between Newbury and Newcastle. The win fund contains a hefty £559,218 while the bonus pool is floating at £623,875. This is a very winnable Scoop6 and there are a few races here that should see a few further withdrawals.
The first contest of the day is the 1:30 at Newbury as fifteen contenders go 2m6f over fences. Tim Vaughan's Our Island comes into this one in his third start off the lay-off and progressed nicely in his last race, finishing second by nearly three lengths to Connak. He's...
The latest prices are in for the 2011 Hennessy Gold Cup and it goes without saying that this is going to be the marquee match-up on the weekend's National Hunt card.
As the days and weeks have gone by in the build up to this one we've seen the price on Great Endeavour emerge as one of the biggest potential challengers to the outright betting favourite Aiteen Thirtythree.
A seven-year-old son of Old Vic, Paul Nicholls talented gelding put in a decent enough shift when finishing three lengths behind Somersby in a Kempton Chase at the end of October. Aiteen Thirtythree likely needed the race in that one but continued to firm up his...
The latest news from Paul Nicholls yard is that Tataniano will be their only entry in the 2011 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown in two weeks time. There is a lot to like about this race and it has been a genuine kingmaker in recent years. The Nicholls yard has made this one their own on a number of different occasions and you know they wouldn't enter Tataniano if they didn't think he was more than capable of finding the line first.
In fact, Nicholls has won the race six years in a row with Kauto Star, Master Minded and the unfortunate Twist Magic who was fatally injured last year at Newbury.
The Nicholls yard has another ready to go in this one and the talented four-year-old Brampour ticks all the boxes as a potential breakout with an undefeated 2/2 record so far this season. Regally bred by Haras De Son Altesse L'Aga Khan, he captured the Grade 3 Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham after progressing off a listed score on debut at Ascot. Big things are expected of this talented young hurdler and Nicholls is just the pair of hands to shape his carer as he progresses further. He has scores on the flat but looks better over hurdles with plenty of stamina and guile for the run-in.
The order of things at Newcastle is starting to shape up as the Fighting Fifth Hurdle now gets firmer commitments from a number of participants. There is a lot to like about this race and it's one of the better contests for hurdlers at this point in the season. Look for a number here to have more than a few expectations at festival time and any of the double digit-priced contenders hitting the board will see their ante post listings drop for later season contests.
In the 3:20 at Ascot we've got a really tightly-bunched field set to contest this one with the overall favourite likely to be Anquetta who turns out for the Nicky Henderson yard. He trades at a 3/1 margin and will likely stay about there – especially on the back of a score on his seasonal debut. Henderson appears to have him in sharp form and he should relish the 2m1f distance in this one. What makes that last victory all the more impressive is that it came at 5/1 and earned him a strong course and distance reference.
We shift over to Lingfield for the third leg of the Scoop6 with a 5f dash around the all weather. Lenny Bee knows what he's doing and showed rapid improvement last time out. He looks set to go off as the relative favourite for this one. Bertoliver was looking a sharp contender but has since been withdrawn. Billy Red is a there-or-thereabouts type of who finishes well but just doesn't win very often. Check him out at 11/2 if you're a true believer. Top weight Flash City could strike as well with...
We've got punters all across the land chasing a massive Scoop6 payoff this weekend so we'll be taking a look at the six races that will ultimately decide who the winners might be. Should nobody take the prize we can expect a significantly larger one next week as the total rolls over. There are a number of long distance contests set to unfold here and, with only one twenty-horse field amongst the races, we have a very winnable prize.
There's a lot to like about this year's iteration of the Coral Hurdle as Oscar Whisky seems to be taking the bulk of the money at this early stage in the ante post game with a 6/4 listing being floated by most major bookmakers. This one isn't as wide-open as some of the other key fixtures on the day but punters will likely be looking to Overturn as the key spoiler for Oscar Whisky.
Overturn got things off to a really solid start this year when conquering the Governor's Cup Field over General Miller back in August. He's had a few months on the sidelines and will be well worked out and in...
