Cheltenham shuts up shop to its daytime meetings until October on Thursday. Three yards who won races on this card a year ago are back to try to do so again and we’ve had a look at their chances alongside 888‘s new customer offer of Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets.
Fontaine Collonges – 2.05 (Venetia Williams, Charlie Deutsch)
Venetia Williams and Charlie Deutsch combined to win this with Pink Legend last year. Should the winner this time around match that mare’s achievements from this season, they will have done very well indeed.
Pink Legend scored Listed honours at Huntingdon in January, defeating the very useful Vienna Court in the process. However, her best effort was saved until last, when going down narrowly in the Grade 2 Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, a clear career best.
Williams and Deutsch don’t come here in anything like the form they had shown in the early months of this season, but FONTAINE COLLONGES brings strong credentials to this contest nevertheless.
Her season has been slightly mixed, but she was a ready winner at Lingfield last time out. She is 10lb higher now and though she disappointed at this venue in December, she could easily turn the tables back in her favour in this race.
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Nora The Xplorer – 2.40 (Donald McCain, Peter Kavanagh)
Brian Hughes partnered Donald McCain’s Bannixtown Glory to victory in this handicap a year ago, but 5lb claimer Peter Kavanagh is enlisted for the ride on NORA THE XPLORER.
The yard’s winner 2 months ago was doing so in what was a deeper renewal. Bannixtown Glory had a rating of 132, but shouldered just 10st 9lb, where she would have had 11st 3lb in this race. Nora The Xplorer gets into the weights on the number here from a mark of 115.
She is very inexperienced at this stage of her career, debuting this time last year for Henry Oliver before transferring to McCain in January. Since then, she won on her stable bow at Sedgefield and cruised home under a penalty in March by 15 lengths.
That came against a rival rated 120, a literal reading of which would make her a warm order here. It surely is not going to work out that reliably, but it was still a performance full of promise which makes her interesting.
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Barden Bella – 3.15 (Christian Williams, Jack Tudor)
Christian Williams took the second running of this race with Win My Wings last April. Little did we know then what she would go on to achieve.
Earlier this month, off 17lb higher than when winning by ten lengths in this race, she bolted up in the Scottish Grand National. That was an exceptional performance and shows the in-depth quality this meeting can possess.
It is unreasonable to cast BARDEN BELLA in the same roles immediately, but she certainly boasts significant potential herself. She was a wide margin winner just a week before the Scottish National, scoring by 20 lengths at Hereford. That was in a far weaker race than this, but a 9lb rise is not overly harsh.
Similarly, with her trainer’s recent record in staying handicaps, she has to be seriously considered upped to 3m2f. The market certainly favours her to continue her progression.
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