Archive for September, 2008

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


Sandown opens the month on February 4 with an excellent card and another set of possible Cheltenham clues. In recent seasons the Agfa Diamond Chase has suffered through small and uncompetitive fields but that worrying trend has started to change of late and this year’s renewal is sure to be a competitive one.

Alan King’s tough stayer Fork Lightning may well be among the entries for the ‘Agfa’, and given his preference for racing right-handed and his fine run behind Joaaci in a strong heat last time, he is likely to be among the more fancied runners.

Some of the season’s smarter novice chasers will be in action in Sandown’s Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase, a contest that was won last year by Henrietta Knight’s El Vaquero and it’ll be interesting to see whether Ms Knight decides to let her rising chase star Racing Demon take his place in the select field.

Over at Wetherby on the same day the staying novices strut their stuff in the Grade 2 Totty Construction Towton Novices’ Chase where the accent is firmly upon stamina in what is always a gruelling contest. Northern trainer Sue Smith won this race a couple of years ago with smart stayer Royal Emperor and may have another similar candidate in Rebel Rhythm, who has already won a novices’ event around the West Yorkshire track.

A week later sees Newbury stage the totesport Trophy Handicap Hurdle, Europe’s richest handicap over timber, on February 11. On a day of cracking action the pulsating two-mile contest takes pride of place and is always won by a good horse.

Finding the winner is never easy but the bookmakers seems to think that Martin Pipe’s talented novice Acambo is the one to beat and he heads the ante-post market with most firms. Pipe has won the race a couple of times in recent years courtesy of Copeland (2002) and Make A Stand (1997) and Acambo is sure to figure highly in Pipe’s plans for Newbury.

Local handler, Nicky Henderson, has also been a trainer to watch out for in this valuable event, saddling no less than four of the last ten winners and the stable’s main hope in 2006 looks to be Grand Jete, a one-time Champion Hurdle hope who looked like winning at Aintree last April until he went lame approaching the last.

Twelve months ago Ireland’s Essex justified favouritism to give the Emerald Isle its second winner in three seasons. One year later there’s a strong Irish challenge once again with the Jessica Harrington-trained Studmaster bidding to follow Essex’s footsteps by winning at Newbury after landing Ireland’s prestigious Pierse Hurdle one month earlier. Significantly, Mrs Harrington landed this valuable pot with Spirit Leader in 2003.

Top weights boast a good record too and Irish trainer John Queally believes his stable star Al Eile will go close to winning the totesport Trophy off 11st 12lb. Queally’s gelding didn’t hurt his Newbury chances by winning at Haydock the other day because he incurs no penalty for that success and has to be on any one’s short-list.

The same is true of the Venetia Williams-trained Chief Yeoman, who looks terrific value at 14-1 with most bookmakers. Connections have been pleased with his two runs so far and he has been aimed at this race since returning to action behind Acambo at Windsor before Christmas. Expect hi to step up on what he’s done so far this season.

The main attraction on Newbury’s supporting card is the Game Spirit Chase, a two mile and a furlong conditions chase that is often used as a final preparatory race by trainers for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

This year’s race is likely to be won by the current Queen Mother favourite Kauto Star, who will be using the Newbury event as a stepping-stone to Festival glory. Over at Warwick course specialist Voy Por Ustedes will be treading a similar path as he bids to earn a place in the Arkle Trophy line-up at the Festival by running well in the coralpoker.com Kingmaker Chase at Warwick on the same day.

On the following weekend - February 18 - all eyes will be on Champion Hurdle aspirants in the Axminster Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton. Trainer Alan King may well let Penzance, his Triumph Hurdle hero of 2005, take his place in the line-up at the West Country venue after a series of disappointing efforts so far this season.

Who knows, maybe even the elusive Lingo will return to action for Jonjo O’Neill. He won easier than most horses do at Cheltenham in November and following good support for the Champion Hurdle in March would be a fascinating runner.

Up at Haydock on the same day Grand National hopefuls will go on trial in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup, a punishing test of stamina over Haydock’s big drop fences in a contest that has sometimes exerted a strong influence upon the outcome of the world’s most famous race at Aintree in April.

Trainer Ginger McCain, a four-time winner of the Grand National courtesy of Red Rum and Amberleigh House, looks to have another leading Grand National candidate in the guise of Ebony Light, a surprise winner of January’s Peter Marsh Chase from the joint Gold Cup favourite, Kingscliff. McCain plans to run Ebony Light in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup before going to Aintree for a crack at the Grand National.

The best of February’s action closes on the weekend of February 25 with Racing Post Handicap Chase day at Sandown Park. The betting is often a strong guide to the outcome of this classiest of chases and well-fancied runners boast a good record.

Take note too of the winner and placed horses because this influential contest has frequently yielded a winner or two at next month’s Cheltenham Festival. Among the more potent contenders this season are likely to be the well treated Ladalko, who has been talked about as a possible for this prize by his trainer, Paul Nicholls, and Lacdoudal from the Philip Hobbs stable that has sent out three winners of this race in recent years.

On the same day at Newcastle there’s the four mile and a furlong Tote Northern National, a marathon chase in which shock winners are a rarity. Stamina is of the essence here and the locally-trained Ossmoses, who relishes racing over long-distances and has long looked a natural for this race and will be a name to note among the entries later in the month.



Horse Racing Bets

MartialArt asked:


but not betting companies were i have to put a bet on

Grand National Tips

lis4p asked:


Are there any UK bookies or UK exchanges that take US racing bets on line ? Also where can I get info on runners in US horse races ?

Horse Racing Bets

Death asked:


has there ever been a horse race ” jump” in the uk that no horse has finished if when and where i’m sure there was one but cant remember it

Grand National Tips

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


When racing fans think of March, they think only of the four days of the Cheltenham Festival and the start of the new turf Flat season at Newcastle. The build-up to the former begins in November and never lets up. Barley a day goes by without a bookmaker supplying a story, or a trainer talking about the tricky road to Cheltenham. The Festival defines the entire jumps season like no single event in any other sport.

Thankfully March’s racing programme starts quietly enough on the 3rd of the month with Newbury’s VC Casino.com Gold Cup, a classy two and a half mile handicap chase that is now in its third year. Trainer Paul Nicholls may well have the answer to this year’s race with the hat-trick seeing Nozic. This would be nothing new because the same stable won the race a year ago with Cornish Sett.

The following Saturday, March 10, sees Sandown stage its traditional eve of Cheltenham fixture and the Sunderlands Imperial Cup takes centre stage. This race is usually won by a lightly-raced youngster that has managed to hide its talents in the current season and is often to be found taking a step up in class. David Pipe will be seeking to emulate his father’s terrific record of four wins in the past ten runnings while any Irish raiders should also be respected.

The Sandown card also plays host to the EBF “NH” Novices’ Hurdle Final and this is always a race to watch for future chasing prospects. Some smart types have collected this prize down the years and backers should look out for Nicky Henderson’s Sir Jimmy Shand, who might just turn up here in preference to a tilt at a Cheltenham Festival prize.

The 2007 Cheltenham festival kicks off onMarch 13 with the Champion Hurdle occupying prime position. Once again all eyes will be upon the powerful quintet of Irish hurdlers that have dominated this race in recent years and include Brave Inca, the reigning champion and Hardy Eustace, a dual winner in 2004 and 2005. Throw into the mix a precocious talent such as Iktitaf, who can be forgiven his latest dismal run on the grounds of a virus infection, and the Irish challenge looks as strong as ever.

Twelve months ago many among the Irish raiding party would not have expected to perform as well as they had done one year earlier. Nine Irish trained winners in 2005 had been hailed as a special achievement but that figure was swiftly eclipsed by a total of ten victories for the Irish in 2006. I doubt whether they will be able to emulate either of these figures in 2007.

They certainly look up against it in the Champion Hurdle with home-based challengers Detroit City and Straw Bear putting down a serious challenge to the Emerald monopoly on the hurdling crown. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see either of the aforementioned horses give the British their first Champion Hurdle winner since Rooster Booster in 2003.

The two-mile speed machines enjoy their place in the spotlight on Wednesday March 14 when the Queen Mother Champion Chase pits reigning champion Newmill against the powerful talents of Well Chief, Nickname and Voy Por Ustedes. The former looked back to his very best when landing Newbury’s Game Spirit Chase on his first start for two years the other day.

Providing he isn’t hit with the ‘bounce’ factor that can often see a horse perform below-par on its second star back after a long absence, he should go well but rising stars Nickname and Voy Por Ustedes will be no pushovers. Nickame has looked unbeatable over two miles on soft ground and if those conditions prevail at Cheltenham, he might be the one to give Ireland its second successive Queen Mother title.

On Thursday March 17 the Festival features its quietest day for championship races with the World Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase combining to put substance into the creation of an extra day for the modern Cheltenham. In the former contest the disgraced Black Jack Ketchum will attempt to put his season back on track after a dismal capitulation in last month’s Cleeve Hurdle at the same course. He seemed not to stay a testing three miles that day and connections will be looking for better ground this time around. Otherwise he may not run.

Decent rivals lay in wait and they will include Mighty Man, last year’s World Hurdle third who also requires a sound surface, and the Francois Doumen-trained Kasbah Bliss, who handles cut and is a live outsider. In the Ryanair Chase the Nicky Richards-trained Monet’s Garden will never have a better chance of winning a Festival race and laying his cautious trainer’s Cheltenham hoodoo. This is a weak race.

Friday March 16 sees the Cheltenham Festival climax with the Gold Cup and it is hard to see beyond Kauto Star in what looks a below-par running of chasing’s Blue Riband. You know that this is an ordinary renewal when a plodder like The Listener features in the top six in the betting. Exotic Dancer aside, there seems no reason why Kauto Star shouldn’t add this race to the King George he secured at Christmas. Much has been made of his last-fence demolitions but he’s still been standing and his canny trainer will adopt more enterprising race tactics in the Gold Cup, thus playing to his horse’s strengths and inconveniencing his rivals.

At the end of Gold Cup week on March 17 Uttoxeter stages the Midlands National and watch out for Nil Desperandum, the current Grand National favourite in this marathon four-miler while March ends on the 31st with the Lincoln Handicap at Newcastle that features Willie Knight’s recent Dubai winner Illustrious Blue among the market leaders while over in the desert kingdom, Discreet Cat and Invasor could clash in the Dubai World Cup at Nad Al Sheba. Isn’t it great to have the Flat back?



Grand National

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


The first Sunday in October can mean only one thing and that’s Paris in the autumn for the Prix de l’Ac de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 1. Not content with staging Europe’s premier Group1 contest for middle-distance racehorses, the French racing authorities have done plenty to develop this day as a fixture to match next month’s Breeders’ Cup bonanza at Churchill Downs, Kentucky

As well as the Arc, there will be five more Group One contests on a stupendous Sunday’s action for racing fans. Knowing where to start as a punter is half-the secret to success on a busy and brilliant day.

As ever the name of French trainer Andre Fabre is the essential starting-point for trying to find the winner of the Arc. No trainer has done as supremely well in the great race as the French master, successful five times since 1992 and as concerned as ever to land a sixth Arc to his recent tally.

Fabre supplies a three-pronged attack to this year’s prize beginning with Hurricane Run, last year’s Arc hero who is sure to be thereabouts again but struggled to land a below-par renewal of the King George at Ascot in July. Perhaps this time around he will be upstaged by his hugely talented stable companion Shirocco, who has been aimed at the Longchamp spectacular all season according to connections.

Getting stronger and better with age, Shirocco should be hard to beat in the Arc especially if the ground enjoys any give in it on Arc day. Andre Fabre’s horse is at his best with cut underfoot. The same wouldn’t be true of Japanese superstar, Deep Impact, whose connections are absolutely set on winning the Arc. Whether this top-notch colt can overcome unsuitable ground, the lack of prep race and the transition to a European climate is doubtful but he clearly adds spice to a cracking contest.

The rest of the Arc card features five more Group one races with Reverence likely to take the world of beating in the Prix de l’Abbaye over the minimum trip while the possibility of a clash between Ouija Board and Alexandrova in the Prix de l’Opera is a mouth-watering prospect. Elsewhere Andre Fabre will be attempting to better his record as the leading French-based trainer with his three-year-olds of particular note. Fabre tends to target the Prix du Cadran on Arc day each season, and his leading entry should be noted.

It’s a quiet weekend after the thrills of spills of the Arc and Cambridgeshire weekend with Ascot staging the day’s premier meeting on October 7. As ever the two-year-old sprinters take centre stage in the Cornwallis Stakes and the Willie Haggas-trained Enticing could be an interesting runner in this 5f event.

Over at York there’s a traditionally insoluble afternoon of large field and tricky handicaps headed by the Coral Sprint Trophy. Given the shock results in this 6f handicap it’s no wonder that bookmakers are keen to sponsor such races. On the same card the two-year-olds add some respectability to proceedings courtesy of the Listed Rockingham Stakes and the Barry Hills-trained Captain Marvelous is name to look out for among the entries.

It’s top drawer action at Newmarket on Champions Day, October 14, with two Group 1 contests heading an afternoon of superb action. Throw in the second leg of the autumn double for good measure, stir in the Rockfel, Challenge and Darley Stakes and you have the recipe for a perfect day’s racing.

When it comes to finding the winner of the Champion Stakes, looking for something fresh isn’t a bad policy. Most of the winners of this mile and a quarter contest haven’t endured the rigours of a long hard season. That’s certainly true of Derby hero Sir Percy and Henry Cecil’s rapid improver Multi Dimensional but whether these talented three-year-olds are up to lowering the colours of the older horses is open to question.

In the Challenge Stakes John Gosden’s Sleeping Indian could well prove hard to beat while Sir Gerard can take the Darley Stakes before heading off to Dubai and the winter sun. The James Fanshawe-trained colt has been sold to Sheikh Mohammed and is almost certain to race next season in the deep blue Godolphin colours.

In the Dewhurst all eyes will be upon Jim Bolger’s Teofilo should he make this Group1 contest his last race of a scintillating two-year-old season. This terrific prospect would tackle the world of beating but in his absence the Paul Cole-trained Strategic Prince might be the one to take advantage. He isn’t in Teofilo’s class but this has been his target since a pattern success at Goodwood in early August.

The main Flat action switches to Newbury after the high-points of Champions day and John Gosden’s Broghill could be a name to note in the October Yearling Stakes on October 20, the first day of Newbury’s two-day meeting that now includes the Racing Post Trophy on October 21. Mick Channon will be hoping that Halicarnassus can build upon his big reputation in that final Group 1 prize for juveniles while Aidan O’Brien will be attempting to build upon his bright record in the race and any runners from his Ballydoyle operation should be noted.

On the same day as hosting the Racing Post Trophy, Newbury also stages the Horris Hill Stakes and Jeremy Noseda’s Ready for Spring is being primed to take this prize while in the St Simon Stakes Geoff Wragg will be hoping that Dragon Dancer can lose his maiden tag at last. It seems scarcely believable that this frustrating type almost landed the Derby back in June at 66-1.

The dying embers of the 2006 turf Flat season share the spoils at Newmarket on October 28 with jump racing at Wetherby. At the former track there’s a valuable two-year-old contest in the guise of the Zetland Stakes and any runner from the Mark Johnston squad should be heeded here while over at Wetherby Star de Mohaison would have the look of a good thing if he begins his season in the Charlie Hall Chase. Finally, some of the top two-mile chasers will be strutting their stuff in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter and the outcome of this grade prize will be a pointer to the pecking order amongst the two-mile titans.



Grand National Royalty