Paul Nicholls’s horses are in exceptional form and Hermes Allen posted an impressive front-running success at CheltenhamEven by the standards of a 13-times champion, Paul Nicholls’s horses are in exceptional form at present and Hermes Allen, a £350,000 purchase to run in Sir Alex Ferguson’s colours after winning an Irish point-to-point, extended the trainer’s record this November to 17 wins from 32 runners with an impressive front-running success in the Grade Two Ballymore Novice Hurdle here on Friday.Hubrisko, a rare runner for Willie Mullins at Cheltenham’s November meeting, was sent off favourite for the card’s feature event, but while he travelled well enough until the turn for home, the five-year-old could not respond as Hermes Allen skipped further clear in...
Charlie Hills’ runner is a cracking bet on ITV Racing’s 10-hour marathon including all the action from the big Keeneland cardThe European runners look a cut above their locally trained rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Saturday and Charlie Hills’s Pogo (7.10) is an interesting bet at around 16-1 to come home in front.He is most familiar as a seven-furlong performer but that is often an ideal profile for the Mile winner on a typically sharp American turf course. Pogo also likes to race up with the pace, should get a good position from stall one, and his form behind Kinross – a 4-1 chance for this – in August suggests he should not be four times...
America’s multi-million dollar meeting will overshadow the Melbourne Cup and the jumps racing at Aintree this weekWith all due respect to Australia, where the Melbourne Cup is due to stop the nation at around 4am GMT on Tuesday, the attention of the racing world this week will focus squarely on the Kentucky bluegrass, and the 14 Grade One events that make up the 39th running of the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Lexington this weekend.This news may also grate with diehard fans of the jumps, who will argue that the Grand Sefton Chase over the National fences at Aintree will generate far more betting turnover in the UK on Saturday than any of the events in Kentucky. But the simple...
Lucinda Russell’s front-running chaser has plenty in his favour for the first big clash of the new jumps season at WetherbyTwo of last National Hunt campaign’s best staying novice chasers will set out on their second season over fences in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday and Ahoy Senor (3.35) is worth backing at around 2-1 to improve his career record against Bravemansgame to three wins to one.Ahoy Senor’s fencing went to pieces in the closing stages of the Kauto Star Novice Chase at Kempton’s Christmas meeting, when Bravemansgame, the early favourite for Saturday’s race, recorded his only success against him in three attempts. Continue reading...
Even bookmakers were less than ecstatic about the prospect of adding another meeting to the jumps season’s highlight For a venue that was built on expecting the unexpected, and on an afternoon that veered from bright sunshine to downpours and back again, there was an odd sense of certainty as Cheltenham opened the doors for its new season on Friday. The Festival in March has been a four-day meeting since 2005, and despite years of debate, speculation and rumours that a fifth day was all but inevitable, the track announced earlier this week that that is how it will stay.More than 3,000 of Cheltenham’s 8,000 or so annual members responded to a survey on a fifth day, according to Ian...