Fred Winter Juvenile Novices Hurdle

Day one can end on a high for Alan King, whose Pouvoir is taken to foil the bonus bid of Gaspara, with Pancake, Altilhar and Silver Jaro all worth a mention at least. The popular choice here will undoubtedly be David Pipe's ex-French filly Gaspara who set connections up for the big bonus after landing Saturday's Imperial Cup at Sandown, and with just a 4lb penalty, she has obvious claims. However, she did take a long time to get going before eventually putting matters to rest, and it could well be that those recent exertions will find her out. With that in mind we prefer the claims of Pouvoire who was thought good enough to warrant an entry in the Supreme Novices's Hurdle, and indeed Friday's Triumph. This looks by far the best option though, judged on his demolition job over seven rivals at Kempton in January, and a break since will have done him the world of good. Rated on 124, as were the two previous winners of this event, he is the main hope of King's trio. Stablemate King's Revenge has a good chance of making the frame at least on his Haydock second to Grand Bleu, but Risk Runner looks held by Pancake on Newbury form. The latter has since been well and truly put in his place by King's big Triumph hope Katchit in a Grade 2 contest here in January, but bounced back by destroying some much inferior rivals at Warwick next time. He needs to find a few pounds to beat the selection, as do the likes of Altilhar and Silver Jaro. We wish Jim Culloty the best of luck with Madroos, who holds fellow Irish raider Belord on a line through Duty, but we return to Pouvoir as the pick, in receipt of 6lb from Gaspara.Click here to get your free bet from Ladbrokes on this race