Newbury Winter Festival - Day Three

A less fortunate day than Thursday with both Ballywatt and Ballybough Pat finishing 2^nd. Stake was returned for Ballywatt as on e/w at 6/1 but annoying to lose on Pat as he ran a nice race, beaten by a somewhat rejuvenated Fair Along. The rest of the day wasn’t much brighter as Bold Cuffs pulled hard for the first circuit and jumped poorly to be tailed off, and Prince of Pirates again flopped to finish 3^rd. Hopefully tomorrow is more fruitful and returns a winner or 2! After seeing the monster of a horse Diggers Mate in the bumper yesterday the 2 beasts in the picture below made him look small! I don’t imagine they’ll be popping many hurdles or fences though!

 

Saturday sees a more appealing card for me in terms of fancying a few, though not in the first race at 12.15pm which I am leaving out completely! The 12.50pm only has 6 runners but could still be competitive and the Anthony Honeyball trained Eleven Fifty Nine is consistent and very able, but I feel Call Me A Star is the one to be on. At the stable tour yesterday it seemed connections were very bullish about this mare and she could be one of the best her trainer has handled. She can be keen but is expected to give a very good account of herself which is reflected by the skinny 7/4 I’ve been forced to take!

From one strong fancy to another as Rolling Aces is a horse I’ve been waiting for and he goes in the 1.25pm Handicap Chase. Having not done much over hurdles (always going to be a chaser), this fella will be expected to improve for fences (he won a Point in Ireland) and ran well on debut over the bigger obstacles when seemingly outpaced in the 19f contest on good to soft, before staying on like a train at the finish! The step up to 22f should bring about improvement and I’d say there’s a fair amount more to come over fences now he goes handicapping. I have Godsmejudge and Merry King down as others that are potentially on the up, and Barry Geraghty’s mount Seven Woods could well have more to come, but I’d hope Rolling Aces is good enough to see them off and have gone each way at 6/1.

Death, taxes and Big Bucks! 3 things guaranteed in life! Big Bucks is Big Bucks, so the 2pm is not worth discussing.

The 2.35pm is interesting and I feel it could be a good day for the Ditcheat camp as Salubrious could take the beating in this (potentially notching up a treble for Paul Nicholls if Rolling Aces and Big Bucks oblige!). Salubrious is held in high regard by his connections but wasn’t right last season (had a cracked tooth I believe). He ran fairly well on reappearance in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow but his trainer has stated he will improve a lot for it. I’m certain there is more to come and can see him taking this race which has been on the agenda a while so he’s sure to be primed for it so I have backed at 3/1.

The Hennessy Gold Cup isn’t one of my favourite races of the season and this year is no different. Bobs Worth will need to be very good to defy his mark – but he could well be! If he wins this you’d have to fancy him to be a serious Gold Cup contender come March. However, at 4/1 I won’t be siding with the Seven Barrows inmate and will instead be taking 8/1 e/w about Hold On Julio in the 3.10pm contest. This horse was talked up a fair bit before Cheltenham in March but failed to deliver, but on Thursday morning’s stable tour it sounded like he is expected to run a huge race tomorrow. He will be fine on the ground and had a nice reappearance run when 3^rd at Cheltenham recently (he was 10kg heavier than his winning weight last season) so is on course for this race. He has a lovely racing weight of 10st 8lb which is positive for his chances and he could be very well handicapped so a big run is expected! Frisco Depot is the other interesting horse and may be worth a small e/w saver.

 

 

Ulck Du Lin catches the eye (Nicholls yet again!) in the closing 3.40pm affair as he ran a bit free and probably needed the run when tiring over 2m6f at Stratford last time. The drop in trip should tomorrow and at 5/1 is worth following, though Michael Flips (7/1) is another I like as he has some smart looking form behind the likes of Cue Card and For Non Stop.

Newbury aside, I’m looking forward to seeing Mount Benbulben run in the 1.55pm at Fairyhouse as I see him as a horse with bundles of potential for chasing and he’s the apple of his County Meath based handler’s eye! As exciting is the Fairyhouse card for Sunday which hosts a number of Gr1 races and will no doubt be extremely useful in providing clues for the rest of the season.

Newbury has been great so far with decent racing (particularly the Novice Chases both days, Dynaste [pictured above being readied before his race] looking ultra impressive in the competitive affair today), dry weather and a fair crowd (though I’m sure tomorrow will be crazily busy!!). One more day to go and then back home so will be writing some new posts including a review of the Hennessy meeting and horses to take from it, my stable tour at Barbury Castle, and maybe a few early thoughts on potential festival candidates. But until then I shall be making the most of Newbury (even bumped into a few reindeer on the way back to base this evening!) so enjoy the racing over the weekend and be lucky!

 

 

 

In summary, tomorrow's fancied horses are:

NEWBURY

12.50pm - Call Me A Star

1.25pm - Rolling Aces

2.35pm - Salubrious

3.10pm - Hold On Julio

3.40pm - Ulck Du Lin

FAIRYHOUSE

1.55pm - Mount Benbulben