Saturday’s racing presents a fine selection of contests from Kelso, Newbury and Doncaster. The Weekend Watch team of Andrew Mount, Dave Young and Kate Tracey had plenty of interesting thoughts about each race as they look to enter the Cheltenham Festival in fine form.
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1.55 Newbury – BetVictor Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase
Andrew: “HELTENHAM was a big eyecatcher at Kempton last week when finishing half-a-length behind Golden Son. He was 14/1 when declarations came out but has been well backed into 9/1. I’m going to go with him in the hope that this was the plan all along.”
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Dave: “HIGHSTAKESPLAYER is the selection. He won for Tom Lacey a few weeks ago after a 458-day layoff. He is entitled to come on for that run too after such a big break and is coming in here relatively unexposed for an experienced horse.”
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2.17 Kelso – bet365 Premier Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)
Dave: “BRUCIO is one I like, her trainer has made a good decision coming here instead of the Morebattle Hurdle later in the card. Jango Baie does not look particularly straightforward and this is a deep-ish race for this level, so I would rather be with Brucio.”
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Andrew: “It’s hard to pick holes at the head of the betting, but Jango Baie is priced accordingly. One at a bigger price I like is Rich Spirit for Sue Smith based on the time he clocked when chasing home Geromino at Doncaster last time. I’m worried about the weather forecast for him though, so I’ll stick with the course form of ALNILAM even though I won’t be having a bet in the race.”
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2.50 Kelso – bet365 Morebattle Hurdle
Dave: “I’ll probably wait and see on Nicky Henderson’s form. UNDER CONTROL isn’t going to shorten up as a result though. They’ve talked about this horse being their County Hurdle horse and this race should be the ideal prep as long as she wins here. They wouldn’t be running her here if they were not confident of winning.”
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Andrew: “If the meeting does go ahead I think Under Control could struggle on the ground. I’ll go with BENSON who has a few options at the Cheltenham Festival. It will be interesting to see if he takes in this race and one at the Festival as he did last year, with Sandy Thomson’s yard going so well.”
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3.25 Kelso – bet365 Premier Chase (Listed Race)
Andrew: “Monbeg Genius I can’t be bothered with at the price. THUNDER ROCK is a quirky so-and-so as he can’t face traffic in races because his jumping goes to pieces. With Sean Bowen up I’ll side with him over Elvis Mail.”
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3.40 Doncaster – Grimthorpe Handicap Chase
Dave: “UNDERSUPERVISION is a horse I’ve got a massive soft spot for. He was beaten a neck in this last year and won on March 5th in 2022. Some horses just come alive at certain times of year.”
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Andrew: “Unfortunately Undersupervision’s record in fields bigger than eight is awful. As it stands, I’d be worried that he’ll find traffic problems. The interesting one is ASHTOWN LAD for Dan Skelton with first time cheekpieces. Skelton’s chasers who were fifth or worse last time out are 10/38 on their following run.”
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Don’t forget to check out occasional Weekend Watch pundit, Matty Sutcliffe’s selections for this weekend as well as Dave Young’s weekly Cheltenham ante-post picks.
Matty Sutcliffe’s Weekend Pointers & Punts
Dave Young’s Cheltenham Ante-Post Book
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