Category: Horse Racing Tips

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Aintree Friday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Day 1 of the Grand National provided its usual share of thrills and spills, unfortunately including our selection Arctic Fire crashing out at the last in the Aintree Hurdle. On The Fringe spared us from a complete whitewash but it would have been so much better had Call The Cops held on in the last.

Friday’s card, dare I say it, looks even tougher at first glance. The first race is a wide open two and a half mile handicap. I was taken by the style of Theinval when he won at Kempton on similar ground and he just about gets the vote at a tempting 11-1. Pearl Swan and Snake Eyes are others to note but you could probably make a case for half of the field.

I’ll probably bring the Nicky Henderson stable to a grinding halt but I fancy Cardinal Walter to run well in the second as well. I was surprised when he was beaten by Qewy at Newbury but this quicker surface could see the form turned on its head.

If there is a “good thing” on Friday, it is probably Saphir Du Rheu. He was runner-up in the World Hurdle and now has a second tilt at a chasing career having fluffed his lines at Kempton last time. He is the class horse of the race but you wouldn’t want to take too short a price.

The Melling Chase is a real cracker with Sire De Grugy, Don Cossack and Champagne Fever heading the field. Champagne Fever was bitten by a stable companion on his journey over for the festival so missed the Queen Mother Champion Chase. I believe that two and a half miles is probably more his trip anyway.

The Topham Chase looks almost impossible to solve but I’m going to take a stab with Bless The Wings for Gordon Elliott. The stable had a first day double and this one is very well weighted with Darna on previous form. Likewise, Mouse Morris has his table firing on all cylinders so Alpha Des Obeaux looks overpriced in the 4.40. He was second to Doucan last time out, admittedly without getting the Supreme Hurdle winner off the bridle, but this looks wide open.

Finally, Paul Nicholls can continue a fine meeting for the stable with Persian Delight in the closing bumper. He cruised home in a poor race on his debut but is highly regarded at home.

Theinval 1.40 @11-1 Bet365

Cardinal Walter 2.15 @8-1 Paddy Power

Saphir Du Rheu 2.50 @7-4 Totesport

Champagne Fever 3.25 @10-3 Coral

Bless The Wings 4.05 @22-1 Ladbrokes

Alpha Des Obeaux 4.40 @18-1 Bet365

Persian Delight 5.15 @4-1 Paddy Power

Grand National Blog – Déjà vu for Punters at Aintree

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Aintree Day 1 Report

The last flight fall of Arctic Fire in the Aintree Hurdle was strangely reminiscent of last month’s demise of odds-on favourite Annie Power at Cheltenham. Once again it was the Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh combination seemingly set to strike a blow for the punters before disaster struck at the last hurdle.

His departure left the race at the mercy of Jezki and Tony McCoy but the best news was that both horse and rider escaped unscathed. McCoy would later be in the wars himself when Ned Buntline came down in the sixth race. The champion jockey was immediately back up on his feet and able to fling his helmet to the ground in disgust.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for punters with Nina Carberry never giving her supporters an anxious moment when taking the Fox Hunter Chase with On The Fringe. Silviniaco Conti was preferred in the market to Holywell and duly reversed the Cheltenham Gold Cup under Noel Fehily. Punters could have ended the day in profit had Call The Cops held off the late thrust of Taglietelle in the closing handicap hurdle. Bookmakers had little to complain about in the other races with Clarcam (5-1), All Yours (16-1) and Surf And Turf (33-1).

Grand National Latest

There has been little activity worthy of note in the Grand National market with Shutthefrontdoor a general 7-1 favourite ahead of Rocky Creek and Balthazar King at 10-1 and The Druids Nephew at 14-1. Gordon Elliott will certainly be growing in confidence ahead of Cause Of Causes run in Saturday’s race after a first day double courtesy of Clarcam and Taglietelle.

A few late jockey bookings for the National include Brian Hughes on Ely Brown, Brendan Powell on Royale Knight, Tom Cannon on Wyck Hill and Liam Treadwell on Monbeg Dude. The four reserves have only until 9am tomorrow for any of the top forty to come out.

Special Offers

The best Grand National offers at present are each-way down to sixth place from BetVictor and half of your stake back as a free bet for Bet365 customers (applies to all each-way bets on the National up to a maximum of £125 per customer). If you are intending opening a Coral account, they will pay out on the Grand National winner at treble the odds for new customers. Full details on their respective websites.

Grand National Blog – Going favours Spring Heeled

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The Grand National meeting at Aintree gets under way on Thursday and the excitement is already building towards Saturday’s big race.

If you have been following our regular posts, you’ll know that we have been putting together an ante-post portfolio on the race. The ground seems to be drying out with the warm spell over Easter and that is good news for Spring Heeled, tipped here at 33-1 on 4th February. All has gone well with his preparation and Nick Scholfield takes the ride.

Cause Of Causes chased him home at Cheltenham last year and was added to our list at 33-1 after winning at this year’s festival. He has almost halved in price and Paul Carberry is expected to hunt him around on the first circuit and hope to creep into the race. If you are a fan of Tony McCoy, we added Shutthefrontdoor at 20-1 in anticipation of the champion jockey seeking a glorious send-off.

Our only other investment so far was on Monbeg Dude at 33-1 and we were disappointed with him in his latest trial. He would probably prefer softer ground but got round last year in seventh and connections are still to take their chance.

All of the leading bookmakers are now offering non-runner – no bet on the Grand National. There are also some enhanced place terms on offer with BetVictor paying each-way down to sixth place. William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Totesport are sticking rigidly to the first four places so far but this may change with pressure form their rivals.

Royale Knight is currently the last horse guaranteed a run so anything below him in the list is relying on some late withdrawals. These include the David Pipe duo of The Package and Broadway Buffalo. The former is a veteran of past Nationals and won well at Cheltenham while Katie Walsh is desperately hoping that Broadway Buffalo can sneak in. She won the Irish Grand National on Monday but looks like missing out on Saturday’s race.

Whereas Cheltenham brings the best from Ireland and Britain together for the first time, Aintree tends to revolve around the festival form. There are smaller fields and (usually) Cheltenham form stands up pretty well. We have previewed day 1 separately with selections for all seven races.

Ante-post

Spring Heeled @33-1

Cause Of Causes @33-1

Monbeg Dude @33-1

Shutthefrontdoor @20-1

Each-way ¼ odds, 1,2,3,4

Aintree Thursday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The Betfred Bowl is one of four Grade 1 races in the opening day of the Grand National meeting at Aintree.

Tony McCoy is re-united with Jonjo O’Neill’s Holywell after being claimed to ride Carlingford Lough in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Holywell briefly looked threatening four from home but could only plug on at one pace into fourth behind Coneygree. That was still a fine effort, particularly as the rain-softened ground went against him.

He is a real spring horse with all of his seven career victories having come between January and April. He had won at the previous two Cheltenham festivals and also won here last year when slamming Don Cossack by ten lengths in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase. The obvious danger is Silviniaco Conti who was a disappointing favourite in the Gold Cup. He bounced back to win this race last year and I expect to see Noel Fehily adopt more positive tactics than at Cheltenham.

Cheltenham form is also tested in the Aintree Hurdle at 3.25 when Arctic Fire lines up against Jezki. We tipped Arctic Fire at 25-1 for the Champion Hurdle so were delighted with his run in second place behind Faugheen. He holds Jezki on that form and McCoy’s mount is prone to pull too hard for his own good. The only question mark is whether Arctic Fire stays this longer trip but his style of racing suggests that he will.

McCoy should have register a victory in the McManus colours on Hargam in the Juvenile Hurdle. He was third in the Henderson-dominated Triumph Hurdle and was ten lengths clear of Devilment in fourth place. The green and gold colours have several chances on the card, notably with On The Fringe and Ned Buntline.

On The Fringe was always travelling best in the Foxhunters at Cheltenham and Nina Carberry has a great chance of landing the double here. He has yet to tackle these fences and a huge field of thirty is always a worry. If he settles over the first few fences, he is capable of following up. Ned Buntline gets a handy pull in the weights with Next Sensation for Cheltenham. He was fancied to give Tony McCoy a winning send-off but the ground was too soft for him.

Call The Cops is up 7lbs for his Pertemps Final victory but that may not be enough to prevent him from following up in the last. Vibrato Valtat tried to go after Un De Sceaux in the Arkle and had nothing left in the closing stages. He will be ridden with more restraint in the opener where he clashes with Josses Hill.

Vibrato Valtat 1.40 @9-4 Ladbrokes

Hargam 2.15 @Evens Bet365

Holywell 2.50 @15-8 Skybet

Arctic Fire 3.25 @2-1 Bet365

On The Fringe 4.05 @4-1 Bet365

Ned Buntline 4.40 @8-1 Ladbrokes

Call The Cops 5.15 @7-1 Ladbrokes

Nottingham Wednesday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The Flat turf racing season continues its stop-start progress at Nottingham on Wednesday with an interesting seven-race card.

It’s always a fascinating time of year to see which horses have improved over the winter and John Gosden will be hoping that Forever Now has done exactly that. He lines up in the Barry Hills Further Flight Stakes at 3.40, a listed race over a mile and three-quarters.

I followed him with interest last season after he caught my eye when finishing second at Newmarket in May. He was very impressive when sauntering to an eight-length win in his maiden at Doncaster next time but only scrambled home in the March Stakes at Goodwood in September.

He was only considered to be Gosden’s second string in the St Leger but he ran a fine race. He led between the two furlong and furlong markers before fading into sixth behind Kingston Hill and Romsdal. The latter came out and won impressively on the all-weather recently and Windshear (fourth) won at Doncaster last week.

The best of the opposition looks to be Island Remede who ran on well behind Windshear last week while Cinnilla improved throughout the season for Ralph Beckett. Godolphin are represented by Blue Rambler who is something of an unknown quantity after one moderate start in Britain. Forever Now should take this on the way to better things.

Gosden also saddles the favourite in the following handicap with Sacred Act. He won over course and distance last year and looked a very exciting prospect. He was confidently backed to win off a mark of 90 at Sandown next time but never looked happy at any stage and finished fifth. Presumably something was amiss and it will be interesting to see how he goes off the same mark.

It’s a question of balancing potential against proven form in this one and I just favour the Doncaster third, Youartisonfire. He had no answer to Chatez in the closing stages of the Spring Mile but it was still a decent effort. He has run his best races at Haydock in the past and this is a similar galloping track. He should go well under Silvestre De Sousa and looks good each-way value at 5-1.

There are several other interesting races on the card and Gosden has Alkawn in the opener and Waady in the sprint, both ridden by Paul Hanagan. There could also be some improvers in the closing three-year-old handicap with the weights headed by Luca Cumani’s Noro Lim.

Forever Now 3.40 Nottingham @11-8 Bet365

Youartisonfire 4.10 Nottingham @5-1 BetVictor (each-way)

Pontefract Tuesday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

National Hunt racing will be making all of the headlines this week as the build-up to the Grand National goes into overdrive. The Aintree festival begins on Thursday and we will be previewing all of the big races and provide a preview of each day’s racing.

The pick of the action on Tuesday is the flat turf meeting at Pontefract which sees Sir Michael Stoute’s first runners of 2015. He does not have a reputation for having his horses fully wound up first time out but they are always a force to be reckoned with in maidens and I think Dannyday could start him off with a winner.

The son of Dansili is out of a Daylami mare and showed plenty of promise as a two-year-old. Both he and Secateur ran in the Doncaster maiden won by Commemorative in September and finished within a nostril of one another in seventh and eighth. Secateur finished his season with a fair second at Goodwood while Dannyday appeared to disappoint when only fourth at Windsor.

A closer look at the form suggests that perhaps it was a better race than it first appeared. The winner, Master Apprentice, was raised in class next time while the runner-up won at Newbury and the third is entered in the Dante Stakes at York. Dannyday has quite a rounded action so will appreciate any give in the ground at Pontefract and has the assistance of Ryan Moore in the saddle.

Stoute and Moore also team up with Gothic in the day’s feature event at 4.00. He is closely matched with Astronereus on Ascot form last season and both horses look capable of winning decent handicaps this season. Astronereus did not quite deliver as much as was promised for Amanda Perrett as a three-year-old but starts the season on a fair mark. Perrett did send out a rare first-time-out winner recently so perhaps this one can be another.

For my final selection on the card I am siding with Richard Hannon’s Thofa in the fillies’ maiden at 4.30. She ran well when finishing a close third at Newmarket and maiden races from HQ usually pay to follow. The one I fear most is Richard Fahey’s Bonds Choice who ran really well at York on her latest start. Midnight Dance attracted significant support on her second outing last season for Ralph Beckett so she could be one to keep an eye on.

Dannyday 2.30 @15-8 Bet365

Astronereus 4.00 @3-1 Bet365

Tohfa 4.30 @5-2 Betfair