Well even after a week in which we saw abandonments left right and center it looks like we should get some quality action over the jumps this weekend at Ascot, Haydock and (inspection permitting) Haydock where the card has already been reduced to an all-hurdle affair because of the sodden ground. I'll have a look at the highlights at each venue, starting with the all-hurdle card at Wincanton.
The Kingwell Hurdle is the highlight of the fare on offer at Wincanton and they go over the bare minimum 2 mile trip here. The market has it as a match between Melodic Rendezvous (6/5) and Zarkandar (11/8) with Alan King's Grumeti next in the market at 5/1. I really like the chances of Jeremy Scott's stable star Melodic Rendezvous here. This is much more his trip than Zarkandar and even with the emphasis on stamina with this ground I think Zarkandar will find this too sharp a trip; a look at his Cheltenham entry in the World Hurdle shows you where this horse's strength lies. Melodic Rendezvous has some really good form in the book, beating Nicholl's Ptit Zig last time out at Haydock and has C&D form to boot, including the beating of Far West earlier this season round here. While Grumeti is a live danger receiving weight from the selection and with the King stable going well at the moment, Melodic Rendezvous was clearly not right when Grumeti beat him up at Newcastle earlier this season and I'm not sure Grumeti will fancy this ground too much looking back on previous form. Remember Melodic Rendezvous was touted as a live contender for the champion hurdle earlier this season, and is still a potential one if the ground comes up soft, so he really needs to be winning here to justify such hopes. I expect Melodic Rendezvous to have too much speed for Zarkandar and fancy Nick Scholfield to get one over on his boss Paul Nicholls in the Kingwell Hurdle.
Moving onto Haydock where, just after the unveiling of the Grand National Weights, we see a race registered as a trial for the great steeplechase. This really will be a grueling test, 3 miles 5 furlongs on deep deep ground, so lets go looking for a horse that will appreciate such conditions. To be fair there are a fair few of them in here however! Well Refreshed won this last year but is 12 lbs higher for this renewal and hasn't produced anything like that form since so is passed over in this competitive heat. Hawkes Point, just denied in the Welsh National, will love the trip and ground as will a host of others but the one I'm going for here is Emperor's Choice. A host of poor runs were blown away last time out where Venetia Williams' charge won the Welsh Wales National over 3 and 1/2 miles on very testing ground. Theoretically well in for this race I fancy that Williams has managed to sort this one out, especially given the money that came for him that day. Someone definitely knew that this horse was finally going well and produce the form we thought he had within him somewhere and with the conditions he loves again meeting him at Haydock he can follow up that win.
Finally going down to Ascot for the best bet of the day in the Betfair Ascot Chase where Captain Chris heads the market for this. He absolutely jumps out the page at me for this 2 mile 5 furlong race. His record going right-handed reads far betters his left-handed form and would be a live Gold Cup contender if Cheltenham was the other way round. Alas it is not but Ascot is and Captain Chris loves it round here. He should have the beating of market rival Riverside Theatre, having been trying to give him 10lbs when just beaten 3/4 of a length earlier this season, so Henderson's charge is passed over here. Cloudy Too is rated 12lbs lower than Philips Hobb's charge yet they go off level weights tomorrow, so clearly he will have to produce a mammoth effort to beat the Captain if he runs to form. Who knows what to expect from Hunt Ball, Kauto Stone would be interesting if he could produce his form of a few years ago but that's not what you want to be clinging onto in a competitive race and Sunny Ledgend just isn't good enough in this company. That leaves us with Medermit, an extremely high-class horse who has beaten Captain Chris in his time, and Rolling Aces. However Medermit's victory over Captain Chris was 3 years ago, way back in 2011, and Alan King's charge has a 22 month absence to overcome if he is to take this race. He has won when fresh in the past but never 22 months 'fresh' and while I could well see Medermit running very promisingly tomorrow it is expecting a bit too much to expect him to beat a lot of race fit horses here, especially given the stamina test this race will post. Finally Rolling Aces...Paul Nicholls was beaten when odds on latest but that was on good ground and previous to that has some smart form on testing ground in the book, including a grade 2 victory over in Ireland. A return to these testing conditions will suit, and the cheekpeices may get some improvement from this one, but again has a huge amount to find on figures. Basically I really like the chances of Captain Chris tomorrow and he strikes me as a great bet at even money. Philip Hobbs is going really well this season and I rate Captain Chris as my Nap of the day tomorrow to add another winner to the Hobbs 2013/14 season tally.
That's it from me, hopefully Captain Chris can do the business at Ascot and leave us all happy this weekend!
Thanks for reading
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