Good Morning racing fans, I hope your waistline is at least two sizes bigger after Christmas and the New Year's resolution of 'Go to the Gym more' is being prepared. Boxing Day was a good one for us after nailing the 20/1 winner of the Feltham in Annacotty, judging by Twitter a few of you backed it which is great. Big congratulations have to go to Martin Keighley, Ian Popham and owner Liz Prowting who all saddled their first Grade One winner in the process. Also a big well done should go to the Managing Director for Mrs Prowting, Hannah Bishop for originally buying the horse. She also read this blog last week and informed me she will definitely come back again, so 'HI HANNAH!!'. One final thing, good luck to the same connections with Faultless Feelings today at Newbury, now enough of the sucking up and onto the racing today.
They go to post this afternoon at Newbury as they hold the Challow Hurdle won last year by Taquin Du Seuil who went on to run in the Neptune. Also racing today is Chepstow as 20 horses step up to the challenge in the Welsh National which was won by the exciting Monbeg Dude last year. The only other English National Hunt meeting is at Catterick but they race on the polytrack at Lingfield as well. Perhaps the pick of all the meetings today is at Leopardstown which last season provided one of the races of the year in the Lexus. Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth takes the trip over and looks to put behind a recent flop at Haydock behind him. Limerick also hold a jumps card.
As always we have prepared a video for you previewing the Channel 4 races. Joining me this week we have Adam Webb (@Adamwebb121), Calum Madell (@Calummadell) and jockey George Gorman (@GeorgeFGorman) who rode his first winner under rules on boxing day. Watch the video by clicking the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04mZGgIKNM
Now onto the action today!
12:45 Newbury - De Blacksmith
In our video George put this one up as his NAP of the day which I seriously considered doing, but we will let him have his moment of glory. He ended last season by hitting the deck twice over hurdles but has since got back on track this season now that he is over fences. His chasing career got off to a good start when runner up behind the exciting Uxizandre at Plumpton but has since disappointed on testing ground at Lingfield. It is best putting a line through that run as he was beaten way too far out and some problems came to light which will have been corrected. De Blacksmith to carry on the good form of Gary Moore. (9/1)
1:30 Chepstow - Lamps
I like this one for a few reasons and one of them is because I am a big Chelsea fan (here comes the hate on Twitter) but there are stronger reasons. We will start with his love of the soft ground that he will encounter today, on soft ground or worse he has won twice and placed a further 6 times so he has earned the title 'Mudlark'. The equally important factor today is that he goes well fresh winning twice first time out in his still short career but there is plenty more improvement to come this season, after all he is only a 6 year old. Any money for him will be a big positive as well, Lamps to find the back of the net... Please forgive me for that one!! (12/1)
2:00 Chepstow - Violet Dancer
This is the second selection of the day from Gary Moore's yard and also the NAP of the day for me. He left a huge impression on me at Sandown when winning last time and remaining unbeaten over hurdles. On his hurdles bow he handed out a 10 pound beating to the well regarded Aldopicgros on very soft ground before winning a very strong race at Sandown as previously mentioned. He wasn't the best over the 2nd last that time but picked himself up to jump the last really well and ended it all by going away from Sleepy Haven up the hill. He is a very strong bet and looks destined for great things down the line. (4/1)
2:20 Leopardstown - Djakadam
This is one horse I am genuinely excited about seeing this afternoon and have been excited about all season after a few eye catching efforts last year. He gets a lot of weight from the older horses today as for the next few days he is still a four year old, 11 pounds is a lot of weight to get though. On his last run last season he was just over 11 lengths behind Diakali who has since won a big Grade One hurdle in France, but anything he did over hurdles was just a bonus. Once you see him you will realise just why I fancy him to make a top chaser and from the Willie Mullins yard he could be absolutely anything. Djakadam to land his first chase at the first time of asking. (2/1)
2:35 Chepstow - Merry King
Last weekend Houblon Des Obeaux was put up as a selection on this blog after staying on very takingly in the Hennessy late on to grab 6th. Merry King was staying on with him and finished just ahead of him in 5th and was flying late in the race which would signify the step up in trip will be no problem. He has always been a horse that needs a trip and this will be the furthest he has run over so far in his career and the ground should pose no problems at all. Thanks to Tidal Bay keeping the majority of the other horses out of the handicap, Merry King is allowed to run off a very low weight of 10-3 which is very appealing in this race for sure. Merry King to land the Welsh National of 2013. (10/1)
NAP - Violet Dancer
Nb - Djakadam
As always Happy Punting guys!
No comments:
Post a Comment