Horse racing betting: Ascot Hurdle

The winds of change have become a tornado. We are only in November and all of a sudden we have the Gold Cup hero Kauto Star running twice and a host of Champion Hurdle hopefuls trying their luck in last week's Greatwood Hurdle. The Champion Hurdle picture will firmly be at the forefront of punters' minds when they go to Ascot this Saturday with the likes of former champion Hardy Eustace, the established Detroit City and any number of up-and-coming hopefuls like Afsoun, who made the frame in last year's champion, the unbeaten Gwanako and last year's Fred Winter winner Gaspara. It's a mouth watering line-up if they all make it to the starting tape and confirmed runner Witchita Lineman has already guaranteed the services of Tony McCoy. The half brother to Rhinestone Cowboy was a brilliant winner of last season's Brit Insurance Novices hurdle at the festival over three miles, but with trainer Jonjo O'Neill also housing the brilliant staying hurdler Black Jack Ketchum, it seems the young upstart has been aimed at shorter distances for the time being. Witchita Lineman is undoubtedly a classy individual, but he has never won a hurdle race of under 20 furlongs, and Ascot's 19-furlong contest looks too tough for him and he is readily passed over. O'Neill's other runner, De Soto actually looks the pick of the pair, and although he may not make the line-up for the Ascot Hurdle, he was not far off the best last season in novice company and his five-length destruction of Blythe Knight almost 11 months ago reads well. The unbeaten Gwanako joined Paul Nicholls from France and maintained his unbeaten streak 42 days ago when outpointing Alan King's Pouvoir. Clearly very talented, but he should struggle in this much tougher Ascot Hurdle. Which brings us to the top three in the betting of Hardy Eustace, Detroit City and Afsoun. All three should make the race and Afsoun heads the Ascot Hurdle market due to his third place at Cheltenham in March. Nicky Henderson's five-year-old is still improving and despite his brave effort at Prestbury Park, the fact remains that he still only won one of his four races last season. Afsoun finished behind the likes of Al Eile, Gaspara, Sublimity, Brave Inca and Straw Bear in his last campaign, and while there is no disgrace in that, he will have to be on top of his game to beat the other two. Detroit City went off the 6/4 favourite for the Champion Hurdle after coming into the race winning his eight previous races, which included defeats of Hardy Eustace and Straw Bear. He ran a stinker in the Champion and joined the last 71 five-year-olds who have tried to win the race and lost. It was a stark statistic to try to overcome and his flaccid Aintree effort a month later looked like he was fatigued. Freshened up, Phillip Hobbs's charge certainly looks attractively priced at 4/1 with Bet365 and although this is the kind of distance that market rival Hardy Eustace excels over, a fully wound-up Detroit City should grind his opponents into the Ascot turf. Verdict: 2pts Detroit City @ 4/1 (Bet365)