Thankfully the equine flu crisis is over for now. British racing which was suspended last Thursday returned on Wednesday. The main restriction in the short term is that horses that have been vaccinated over 6 months ago are not allowed to run until they have had a booster equine flu jab. This means some horses who were due to run at the weekend like Verdana Blue and Top Notch can’t race for seven days.
How many horses are going to be affected by this decision isn’t clear as yet but there are bound to be a few defections from Saturday’s big races.
Last Saturday’s big races at Newbury: The Betfair Hurdle and Denman Chase have been switched to this Saturday’s Ascot’s fixture which now has a bumper nine races for punters to get stuck into.
Besides the rescheduled Newbury races. The feature races on the Ascot card are the 2m 5f Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase and the normally informative Grade 2 Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase over 3m.
At Haydock there’s a good-looking card with the highlight being the 3m 4 ½ f William Hill Grand National Trial Handicap Chase (Grade 3).
At Wincanton it’s Kingwell Hurdle Day, with the feature race being the Betway Kingwell Hurdle (Grade 2) over 1m 7 ½ f.
The weather is acting very spring like at present and is set to be mild and sunny from now till the weekend which means drying ground at all three tracks.
At time of writing this week’s notebook (Wednesday evening) the going at the above three tracks is:
Ascot – Good to soft, soft in places – Given the weather forecast it won’t be worse than good to soft.
Haydock – Good to soft, soft in places on the hurdle course and soft on the chase course – The heavy that was in the going description on Monday has long gone. Again, taking the forecast into account. There’s likely to be more good than soft in the going description on the hurdles track and probably good will appear somewhere in the going description on the chase course.
Wincanton – Good to soft, soft in places – Like Ascot, it increasingly looks likely it will be no worse than good to soft come Saturday.
Plenty to look forward to then. It’s just a shame the ground is starting to dry out again after last weeks rain.
This Weeks Horses to Follow
Ireland kept the show on the road last weekend with meetings at Naas on Saturday and Punchestown on Sunday. The loss of British racing means a lack of horses to follow in this week’s notebook. At least with no racing this side of the Irish Sea I had a good chance to watch the Irish cards. Here are some of my thoughts on the weekend action across the Irish Sea.
Naas
The Martin Brassil trained City Island confirmed his well-being for a tilt at next month’s Cheltenham Festival. He only won like a 1/5 shot but at least his Festival preparation couldn’t have gone any better.
I tipped City Island ante-post at 12/1 for the Ballymore Hurdle in Monday’s Daily Punt column. Those odds have gone but I still think he’s a got a great each way chance for the race sponsors.
Band Of Outlaws, trained by Joseph O’Brien, a useful flat handicapper for the trainer. Continues to impress as a juvenile hurdler. He built on his Limerick win with a takin success on Saturday. His tactical flat speed came to the fore in a race that wasn’t run at a fast pace. Still on a day when it wasn’t easy to make up ground from the rear. Band Of Outlaws managed to do it.
The winner will probably head for the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham. I just wish connections would let him take his chance in the Triumph Hurdle.
The second home, Maze Runner & third Coko Beach could also head for the Fred Winter. I wouldn’t be surprised if the winner of that race can be found here.
Punchestown
The ground was drying out all the time at Punchestown on Sunday.
Sinoria, trained by Henry De Bromhead,built on the promise of her December Down Royal maiden win in the 2m Listed novice hurdle.
The drop back to 2m wasn’t a problem for the 6-year-old nor was the drying ground. She showed a good battling attitude at the finish and could well now be heading to the mares novice hurdle at Cheltenham.
The daughter of Oscar chances in that race shouldn’t be underestimated despite her stable having the ante-post favourite for the race.
Take Revenge who I tipped up last week. Was another novice hurdle winner for trainer Martin Brassil. He deserved his win and you can see why the trainer thinks the 7-year-old could make up into a nice prospect for fences next season.
Impact Factor, who had finished runner-up to Cilaos Emery on his previous start at Gowran Park. Remains a maiden after seven starts over fences. Once again, he had the misfortune to came up against a useful novice this time Riders Onthe Storm, trained by Tom Taaffe. You can’t fault Impact Factor’s attitude, as he stayed on well after the last.
Given the 7-year-olds sole career win came on soft to heavy and his effort at Gowran Park came on going much softer than he faced on Sunday. It wasn’t a bad effort in the circumstances. He also looks worth trying over further on the evidence of this run.
The big betting race on Sunday was the BoyleSports Grand National Trial Handicap Chase.
Dounikos, who I had tipped for the Troytown earlier in the season bounced back from a couple of indifferent runs to win the race under an excellent ride from Davy Russell. The 8-year-old had pieces of novice chase form from last season that put him on a winnable mark but in all truth his run in the Thyestes was a poor one and I couldn’t really fancy the Gordon Elliott trained runner after that.
The race produced a 123 for Gigginstown and Elliott also trained the third home General Principle.
The runner-up Wishmoor put in his best effort since joining Joseph O’Brien and will presumably head for the Irish Grand National on the back of this performance. Always up with the pace the 9-year-old battled on all the way to the line but was no match for the winner on this occasion.
General Principle last years last gasp winner of the Irish Grand National off 3lb lower bounced back to form like the winner. This was the 10-year-old best run of the season and he looks a lively contender for Aintree or Fairyhouse again.
Last year’s easy Thyestes Chase winner Monbeg Notorious shaped better here than he had done on his belated seasonal reappearance in this year’s Thyestes. He was still a well beaten 10th of 16 but given the 8-year-olds best form has come on soft or heavy the ground at Punchestown would have been plenty quick for the son of Milan. He should ease in the weights after this and Just like Dounikos he will bounce back sometime.
Of the rest recent eyecatcher Solomn Grundy wasn’t disgraced in finishing 5th. His jumping wasn’t the best at crucial points in the race but at least he plugged on all the way to the line. Again, not one to give up on just yet.
No horses for the tracker this week but hopefully the above notes will be of some use in the coming weeks.
Weekend Betting Preview – Part 1
Some nice winners for the notebook over the weekend to give us a profitable weekend. Let’s hope for more of the same again this week.
As I said in the Daily Punt on Monday the race, I am really looking forward to on Saturday is the William Hill Grand National Trial Handicap Chase at Haydock. I gave a positive mention to Ms Parfois (20/1), Beware The Bear (20/1), The Dutchman (16/1), Sharp Response (16/1) and Big River (25/1).
The more the ground dries out I can’t really have Ms Parfois whos has been well backed for this race in the past few days. Beware The Bear can’t run because he’s not got an updated flu vaccination. Like Ms Parfois, Big River would probably prefer softer ground. That leaves Sharp Response and the Dutchman.
At this stage I am not advising anything for the weekend. With all the uncertainty of who’s going to run and changing going it’s probably prudent to wait at this stage.
My selections for the weekend and any eyecatchers running will be with you on Friday when final declarations are known.