We had a great result in the BetBright Chase last Saturday with our selections Rocky Creek (adv 12/1) and Le Reve (adv 10/1) finishing first and second.
Today we take a trends look at the weekend’s feature races which are the Greatwood Gold Cup and the Grimthorpe Chase.
Firstly, we turn our attentions to Friday’s cards. The David Pipe stable are on fire at the moment with 10 winners from 28 runners in the last 14 days for a level stakes profit of £19.46 and he has a few interesting entries at Newbury this afternoon.
First up is C&D winner Brook who goes in the opening Juvenile Hurdle.
A bumper winner in France, he made a pleasing debut at Cheltenham when finishing fourth in a decent race won by Karezak. He followed that up with a C&D victory and then flopped at Wincanton 15 days later.
He has been dropped 4lbs for that and has had a 4 week break.
Today he sports blinkers and a tongue tie and it is hoped that will help him recapture the form of his previous win, which he has to if he is going to get anywhere near Sebastian Beach for Jonjo O’Neill and AP McCoy.
In the handicap hurdle at 4.10pm, Vif Argent has been given a chance by the handicapper off a mark of 115 and he drops down a notch in class.
However, he has been beaten a combined 106 lengths in his last two races and I am tempted to take him on with Tim Vaughan’s Be Bop Boru whose form over hurdles reads 1112316 in the last 12 months. He too is down in class but looks a more solid proposition than the Pipe runner.
David Pipe’s last runner goes in the handicap hurdle at 4.40pm and that is Obistar who won from a remarkably uncompromising position last time out. He looks all about stamina and hopefully he will see the trip out better than the rest:
Newbury
2.00pm Brook @5/1
4.10pm Be Bop Boru @9/2
4.40pm Obistar @4/1
Over at Doncaster, Nicky Henderson runs Hunters Hoof in the novices’ hurdle at 3.10pm and he could prove a cut above these if ready to go after a break of 125 days.
Doncaster
3.10pm Hunters Hoof @11/10
The Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday looks a pretty decent renewal and after going through the profiles of the previous winners we are left with Sound Investment (11/2), Royal Regatta (6/1) and Mmidnight Belle (8/1).
Given that Paul Nicholls has won 5 of the last 7 renewals of this race I am siding with Sound Investment.
Saturday
Greatwood Gold Cup 3.25pm Sound Investment @11/2
Over at Doncaster on Saturday the feature race is the Grimthorpe Chase. Again I have gone through the profiles of the previous winners and we are left with Farbreaga, Take The Mick and Theatre Queen.
I have no prices to work with so I cannot tell what value these runners offer at the moment. Take The Mick is one of Venetia Williams’ two runners so look out for jockey bookings on Aachen and Take The Mick.
Theatre Guide was 2-2 in hunter chases before refusing to race at Taunton back in December. He had to be led in at the start next time but ran a very good race to finish second to a decent sort from the Hobb’s yard. He seems talented but risky.
Farbreaga won a decent little class 3 novice race at Newbury around a year ago off a mark of 111. He went in again last time out off a mark of 115 and is now racing off 129 and that is some hike.
Saturday
Grimthorpe Chase 3.45pm
Trends qualifiers: Theatre Queen, Take The Mick, Farbreaga