Good Morning/Evening to you all and welcome to the first blog in a weird time of the year just after Cheltenham and before Aintree, something I call no man's land. I hope you all had a fantastic Festival week and even better if you found a few winners throughout the course of the four days.
We race today at Newbury, Bangor and Stratford over jumps in England with Kelso staging a decent National Hunt card across the border in Scotland. The only other meeting over jumps is in Ireland as Gowran Park stage a seven race card where the star attraction is Vicky De L'Oasis. Lingfield stage the best card in the country on the all weather however as they stage the Winter Derby in which Grandeur is a warm order and should take all the beating.
Ontheotherhoof is back after a short time off for Cheltenham week but we hope you enjoyed our preview videos leading up to the Festival. Today we preview the Channel 4 races today and any other races that get requested, joining me today is @Calummadell and @Adamwebb121, enjoy the show!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqw7jit4F_Y
Now onto today's selections!
2:40 Lingfield - Ladies Are Forever
We start today off at Lingfield with last year's winner Ladies Are Forever who looks to emulate Arganil who won this race back to back in 2009 and 2010. There are a few main contenders in the race that will be having their first runs of the season, including Stepper Point and Kingsgate Choice so there is a chance they will be found a little short here. Ladies Are Forever was last seen in the Cleves Stakes here at Lingfield around a month ago when being inconvenienced by a very wide draw. Today she is drawn in stall number four which is ideal for her running style and the drop down to five furlongs should be in her favour with Cheek Pieces tried once more. Ladies Are Forever to make it back to back wins in the Hever Stakes with Robert Tart booked in the saddle. (7/2)
3:15 Lingfield - Ertijaal
Ertijaal is a bit unlucky and if he took any other passage as a two year old he would be unbeaten as in his maiden he bumped into Toormore who beat him by a neck. Unlike Ladies Are Forever, the draw has done him no favours whatsoever, but he broke well last time out and over seven furlongs it isn't the worst thing that could happen. Ertijaal is around a 20/1 shot for the 2000 Guineas later this year, and if he is to justify that price tag then he should at least be going close here and is taken to land the spoils today. (6/4)
3:30 Newbury - Roalco De Farges
Roalco De Farges has come back from an injury this season and with two runs back he should be race-fit after finishing runner up to Tidal Bay in the Bet365 Gold Cup two seasons ago. On that form he will have stamina in abundance today over this slightly shorter trip although he steps up in trip from last time when third at Ludlow. His jumping was fantastic that day but Richard Johnson seemed hesitant to go for everything until very late on and probably left it too late. The main positive with Roalco De Farges is that he gets Good ground back again with his only course victory coming on a faster surface. Richard Johnson was among the winners yesterday at Newbury and can have another one here after a good week at Cheltenham. (13/2)
4:30 Bangor - Ivy Gate
We have a long wait for today's NAP but hopefully its worth it as Ivy Gate ventures into handicap company for the first time with Maurice Linehan taking a further five pounds off. Ivy Gate could be well ahead of the handicapper as he has been judged for performances on bottomless ground which is less than ideal for him. The ground for today is Good to Soft which will be perfect for his chances and after being declared a non runner a few times he can gain his first hurdles victory. To be fair to him his hurdles efforts to date haven't been bad by any stretch of the imagination and has still beaten some nice horses, but the ground has been against him for a long time. Ivy Gate to land today's NAP and what should be a double on the card for Maurice Linehan. (11/2)
Trixie - Ladies Are Forever, Ertijaal and Ivy Gate
NAP - Ivy Gate
Nb - Ladies Are Forever
Have a good weekend everyone and as always, Happy Punting!
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