The horseracing week ahead
I am licking the wounds Monday morning after a shocker of a
Tingle Creek card on Saturday; worst day at Sandown that I can remember as far as the betting was concerned. Jonbon won the Tingle Creek well enough but for me didn't set the pulse racing and with El Fabiolo putting in a much more dominant looking display over at Cork on Sunday the Irish two-miler is a shade odds-on now for the Champion Chase in March.
The first race of real interest to me this week looks likely to be the Listed Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton Park on Wednesday evening with a couple of eye-catching entries from Godolphin. Multiple Group One winner Rebels Romance is entered having last been seen finishing fourth in the G.1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes at Belmont Park in October along with Goldspur who hasn't been seen since April 2022 when third behind Westover in the G.3 bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown. It will be fascinating to see how they go if Charlie Appleby does send them.
This week the big meeting is the two-day Christmas meeting at Cheltenham which gets underway on Friday. We could see Hermes Allen out again following his win in the G.2 2m4f John Francome Novices' Chase at Newbury at the start of the month (tipped on here). He is entered in the Cheltenham & South-West Racing Club Novices' Chase on the Friday. I said before the Newbury race if he takes to the larger obstacles he could be a major player in the Novice Chase division around two-and-a-half miles and he won well there, his jumping getting better the further they went and he went clear when the going got tough up the hose straight. I assume the Turners Novices' Chase is the likely target at the Festival in March, though the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices' Chase may come under consideration. The Grade Two three-mile Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (Registered As The Bristol Novices' Hurdle) is the main event on their card Saturday with the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup also being hosted and likely to be as competitive as ever.
The first race of real interest to me this week looks likely to be the Listed Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton Park on Wednesday evening with a couple of eye-catching entries from Godolphin. Multiple Group One winner Rebels Romance is entered having last been seen finishing fourth in the G.1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes at Belmont Park in October along with Goldspur who hasn't been seen since April 2022 when third behind Westover in the G.3 bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown. It will be fascinating to see how they go if Charlie Appleby does send them.
This week the big meeting is the two-day Christmas meeting at Cheltenham which gets underway on Friday. We could see Hermes Allen out again following his win in the G.2 2m4f John Francome Novices' Chase at Newbury at the start of the month (tipped on here). He is entered in the Cheltenham & South-West Racing Club Novices' Chase on the Friday. I said before the Newbury race if he takes to the larger obstacles he could be a major player in the Novice Chase division around two-and-a-half miles and he won well there, his jumping getting better the further they went and he went clear when the going got tough up the hose straight. I assume the Turners Novices' Chase is the likely target at the Festival in March, though the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices' Chase may come under consideration. The Grade Two three-mile Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (Registered As The Bristol Novices' Hurdle) is the main event on their card Saturday with the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup also being hosted and likely to be as competitive as ever.
Be lucky