Small fields at Fontwell

Small fields at Fontwell today and the same applies tomorrow - the recent dry weather has meant trainers have decided to keep their charges under wraps until the rains arrive.

Of course small fields don't necessarily make picking winners any easier; 10/1 chance The Wallace Line beat odds-on favourite Mercouer in the opener today while 1/5 favourite Salubrious held Drum Valley (9/2) a neck in the novice chase.

Finding a value play on tomorrow's card at the Sussex track looks a challenge - I intend to keep my powder dry.

In the opener (2.15) Anthony Honeyball's mare Lily Waugh has decent form to her name. She finished third in a mares' listed handicap at Newbury in March and was far from disgraced when eighth behind Polly Peachum next time out at Cheltenham; the Honeyball stable boasts three wins from three runners over the jumps in the past month.

A reasonable showing from Lily Waugh might point to the chance of another mare, One Lucky Lady, who goes in the Class 2 handicap hurdle at 3.20; Nicky Henderson's inmate finished some 13 lengths behind Lily in that Cheltenham race won in some style by her stablemate Polly Peachum. Workbench won a Class 2 handicap chase at the track this afternoon but is also declared in this - it would be a surprise to see connections allow their charge to take his chance over the smaller obstacles.

Kim Bailey's yard is in excellent form at present - seven winners from fifteen attempts in the past four weeks. Up For An Oscar (3.55) has been running in novice chases of late with a fourth behind Drum Valley (beaten a neck by Salubrious earlier today) sandwiched between two wins at Worcester.

Just six face the starter but this is a trappy event - as I indicated, I'm going to keep my powder dry and wait for the rain to arrive.

Racing thoughts on a royal wedding day

On the day Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married, I'd hoped to get by without mentioning the blessed event but the victory of Nick Gifford's nine-year-old gelding Royal Wedding in this evening's opener at Fontwell put paid to that notion. Bookmakers have indicated they'll pay out millions on the result. The Sporting Life recorded some fair-sized bets on course too including £2500-£500, £2000-£500 (twice) and £1800-£400 (four times). Liam Treadwell sent the 4/1 chance to the front at the third; despite a mistake two out, Royal Wedding stayed on to take the Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer Handicap Chase by a comfortable 12 lengths. No doubt the race sponsors hope winning punters will splash out on lashings of their product to ensure the street parties continue to go with a swing...

The racing focus now moves to the Flat with the 203rd running of the 2,000 Guineas; the season's first Classic, contested over Newmarket's Rowley Mile, is due off at 3.10. On the form book Henry Cecil's unbeaten colt Frankel shouldn't be opposed; several commentators see this horse as the next big superstar so it's no surprise to see layers offer 4/7. In many ways the race doesn't make much appeal as a betting medium. Some observers weren't overly impressed with the colt's seasonal debut in the Greenham at Newbury while Nick Mordin, writing in the Weekender, makes his case for Roderic O'Connor. For what it's worth my each-way suggestion is Willie Haggas' Fury (18/1 with Coral) but, be warned, I don't follow the Flat so closely and am considering a different approach with the blog for this campaign.

A trend noted last year was that horses with jumps form ran well in a number of Flat races over a distance of two miles or more (with Mamlook winning the Chester Cup, Junior the Ascot Stakes, Bergo the Queen Alexandra Stakes and Overturn the Northumberland Plate). So, time permitting of course, I hope to focus on selected Flat races over a  distance of more than one and a half miles (and some summer jumping). With this in mind I'd noted Philip Hobbs' Comedy Act held a five-day entry in the 4.40 at Salisbury on Sunday but didn't appear in the final declarations. By the same yardstick, entries in Wednesday's Chester Cup that may be worth a second look include Dirar, Sentry Duty, Mamlook, Overturn, Admiral Barry, La Veccia Scuola, Swingkeel, Tyrrells Wood, Cotillion, Nemo Spirit and Royal Rationale.

And perchance, the last named brings me right back to where I started this post...       

Frozen courses

Probably the only thing I have in common with Kempton's clerk of the course Barney Clifford is the fact we both took a peek under the covers this morning and didn't particularly like what we saw. Kempton's Boxing Day card has been abandoned; Monday's revised eight-race card at the track is now subject to an inspection on Sunday (Boxing Day) at 2.00pm.

At the time of writing the current state of play is:

Boxing Day 26th December

Kempton Park - abandoned

Fontwell Park - 11.00 am inspection Christmas Day

Huntingdon - abandoned

Market Rasen - abandoned

Towcester - abandoned

Wetherby - abandoned

Wincanton -abandoned

Wolverhampton - inspection 6.30 am Boxing Day

Leopardstown - abandoned. Rescheduled Thursday 30th December

Limerick - abandoned

Down Royal - abandoned

Monday 27th December

Chepstow - abandoned. Welsh National meeting rescheduled January 8th

Kempton Park - inspection 2.00 pm Boxing Day

Southwell - no inspection currently planned

Wetherby - inspection 9.00 am Boxing Day

Leopardstown - abandoned

Tuesday 28th December

Catterick - abandoned

Ffos Las - course currently covered

Leicester - inspection 8.30 am Boxing Day

Wednesday 29th December

Kelso - abandoned

Thursday 30th December

Haydock - inspection 11.00 am Tuesday 28th December


Makes grim reading, doesn't it? Pass the port, please...

Doc Martin, Andy Murray, Choc Thornton, Avram Grant and the man who ate his winning lottery ticket...

There was plenty of action at Fontwell this afternoon... First time blinkers appeared to rekindle Trenchant's appetite as Alan King's charge won the Grade Two National Spirit Hurdle while Martin Clunes, star of Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin, was hoping Buffalo Stampede, the horse owned by his TV company, would prove a star in the making - unfortunately the beast hadn't read the script and trailed in last of the seven finishers.

The Times reported recently that tennis ace Andy Murray had his first taste of the races and was suitably impressed. Mind you, it was at Dubai's Meydan racecourse and is a world away from a Monday afternoon card at Plumpton in the middle of winter...

A couple of Festival titbits - Robert 'Choc' Thornton appears to have picked up two decent spare rides in Somersby (Arkle) and Twist Magic (Champion Chase). The Weekender reports that Choc was approached about Twist Magic last week - a decision was made after Oh Crick finished a well-beaten fourth in Ascot's Betfair Chase. Oh Crick will now go either for the Champion or the Grand Annual; if connections take the former option, Wayne Hutchinson will ride. I'm sure Choc won't need me to remind him that last year Twist Magic dumped pilot Sam Thomas on the turf right in front of the stands as they went to post. Nigel Twiston-Davies' Imperial Commander worked with a stablemate after racing at Kempton on Saturday and is reportedly in good health and on track for the Gold Cup.

100 days to the World Cup in South Africa and people are starting to talk about football's financial crisis. Following their coverage of the Manchester United v. Aston Villa Carling Cup final this afternoon, the BBC ran a trailer for a Radio 5 Live progamme Business Of Sport which will discuss the issue on Tuesday evening at 20:00. I suspect much of this has been brought about by Portsmouth becoming the first Premier League side to go into administration - manager Avram Grant considers the League's nine point deduction unfair. Now I have every sympathy with this view but such events are a common occurence lower down the footballing hierarchy and have been for some time. Contrast Portsmouth's situation with that of Chester City who were expelled from the Blue Square Premiership on Friday morning following a meeting at Rushden. Chester started the season on -25 points and were still in negative territory when they played their last game; the club is now up for sale for just £1. The men with the money - what have they gone and done to the beautiful game?

Finally, you would be tempted to place a headline 'Man Eats Winning Lottery Ticket' in the same bracket as 'Routemaster Discovered On The Moon' or 'Politician Tells The Truth'. On Friday a passenger travelling from Krakov in Poland to East Midlands Airport with Ryanair won 10,000 euros (roughly £8,930) on a scratchcard. When he was informed there wasn't enough cash on board to pay him immediately, he became agitated and promptly ate the winning ticket, thereby forfeiting any chance of collecting his prize. Understandably, the man wishes to remain anonymous...

Racing Post Chase day at Kempton

I had this surefire winner lined up for the Eider at Newcastle and then the weather went and intervened. Honest.

Fourteen go in tomorrow's feature at Kempton, The Racing Post Chase, which is due off at 3.05. Tanya Stevenson posted a tweet earlier today pointing out that nine of the past ten winners carried over ten stones twelve to victory; that particular stat narrrows the field down to just three - Madison Du Berlais, Nacarat and Ollie Magern. This track suits Madison who will sport blinkers for the first time; the concern is that the Pipe yard has had just one winner form thirty two runners in the past fortnight. Ollie Magern is priced up at 50/1 which leaves previous winner Nacarat, 7/2 favourite at the time of writing, the most likely winner. I'm not particularly tempted at that price. Of the others it's worth noting Ruby Walsh has said he doesn't intend to put up any overweight on Fistral Beach while it will be interesting to see how Atouchbetweenacara runs having left Venetia Williams stable only to return after one disappointing run for Tim Vaughan in the Boylesports.com Gold Cup at Cheltenham last December.

Champion hurdle hope Punjabi faces five opponents in the opener; two of his rivals have been off the track for more than a year while Spider Boy had his thirteenth birthday on January 1st. Nicky Henderson will be pleased to get this run into his charge before the Festival - I, along with plenty of others, shall look for clues as to whether stable jockey Barry Geraghty will opt to ride Punjabi over Zaynar in the Champion Hurdle.

The tissue has The Nightingale at long odds on in the Pendil; I'm tempted to take a chance on Tom George's Othermix at a price. His record doesn't read very well but he's highly regarded at home.

Alan King thinks Triumph Hurdle favourite Mille Chief is right out of the top drawer. If he runs in the Adonis tomorrow he'll be long odds on but there's a rumour he picked up a knock earlier today and may be doubtful. On official ratings Mille Chief is only two pounds better than Ultimate so that one should be thereabouts with a three pound pull at the weights. Ultimate can prove a useful yardstick here as he was beaten six lengths in receipt of three pound by Carlito Brigante (7/1 for the Triumph) at Musselburgh the last time.

Finally a quick word for the fabulously-named The Giant Bolster who is declared in the opener at Fontwell on Sunday; he'll be worth a second look. This one did us an each-way favour at 25/1 the last time, beaten six lengths by Nicky Henderson's Peveril. Peveril has gone in again earlier today at Warwick and it's worth noting that The Giant Bolster holds entries in the Neptune, the Coral Cup, the Albert Bartlett and the Martin Pipe Hurdle at the Festival.

Sunday best?

There's some interesting Sunday fare on offer tomorrow, something that can't be said all that often...

Master Minded makes his seasonal reappearance in Cheltenham's Connaught Chase at 1.45; the race probably represents Well Chief's best chance of overturning the current two mile champion chaser in receipt of ten pounds. Owner David Johnson issued a bullish statement a couple of weeks back saying he thought his horse might surprise a few observers this year. Tataniano, currently a 10/1 chance with most layers for the Arkle in March, will be a warm order to take the opener while the feature race on the card, the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle, looks typically difficult with 19 set to face the starter. If you're brave enough to be considering a wager, it's worth noting that only one four-year-old has won in the last ten years, a big weight isn't necessarily a negative and the market is a reasonable guide more often than not - in the last decade the winner has come from the top two in the betting on seven occasions. As two near the top of the market (James De Vassy and Ronaldo Des Mottes) are both four-year-olds, it follows that Harry Tricker would be worth a look. Nick Williams has his team in fine form and Reve De Sivola brings the best form to the table in the Cleanevent Novices' Hurdle at 3.30. In the last ten years the winner has come from the top four in the market but it's worth noting that favourites have won only three renewals while second favourites have won four. Of Lidar, who runs in the concluding bumper, Alan King said in a recent Racing Post Stable Tour article, 'You could say he's been the apple of my eye ever since the first day he walked into the yard... He's done remarkably well over the summer...and his work has always been of the highest class.'

At Punchestown Sizing Europe (7/1 joint favourite with most firms for the Arkle) goes in the Craddockstown Novice Chase at 1.05 while Hurricane Fly, Solwhit and Muirhead lock horns in the 2.40.

Back this side of the Irish Sea, the going at Fontwell is described as heavy, waterlogged in places. If racing goes ahead the runners in the three and a half mile Southern National Handicap Chase (3.10) will need stamina in abundance. On the same card it's interesting connections have decided to go the novice chase route with Helium (12.50). L'eau Du Nil is unlikely to take his chance in the claimer (1.25) having finished third at Wetherby earlier today while former Philip Hobbs inmate Bureaucrat is well known as a top of the ground performer.

Points of (some) interest

Ferdy Murphy's Kalahari King won the John Smith's Race Extra Smooth Novices' Chase at Musselburgh today and is now quoted as low as 10/1 for the Arkle. At the same meeting Nicky Henderson won the Triumph Hurdle trial with Giorgio Quercus but hinted the horse may miss Cheltenham in favour of either Aintree or Punchestown.

Paddy Power has taken a particularly dim view of Big Zeb's fall at Punchestown this afternoon and now price the horse at 14/1 for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

At Sandown on Saturday Celestial Halo beat Osana but of the two I, in common with many I suspect, prefer the latter. Osana is currently quoted 10/1 second favourite for the Champion Hurdle with Celestial Halo 12s.

In the last fortnight Christian Williams has ridden two Saturday big-race winners for the Nicholls yard, both at Doncaster - Big Fella Thanks and I'msingingtheblues. It looks as though Sam Thomas is paying the price for a couple of high-profile falls earlier in the season. Any talk of Doncaster and you immediately think of the St. Leger but you wouldn't be advised to stay in the Grand St Leger Hotel if the recent report compiled by The Times' mystery guest counts for anything.

Listening to Radio Five Live's broadcast of the Liverpool v. Chelsea match, I heard the commentator tell listeners that he'd just received some racing news - Tony McCoy did not win the 4.10 at Fontwell. For that matter neither did Dominic Elsworth, Jamie Moore, Christian Williams, Aiden Coleman and Jack Doyle amongst others. Tom O'Brien, who did win the 4.10 at Fontwell, also failed to get a mention. You can understand why the champ, still two winners short of the magical 3,000, will be glad when the milestone has been reached and business can return to normal. If the predicted snow arrives, it's likely he'll have to wait towards the end of the week before he can try again.

Denman is scheduled to make his reappearance this weekend, either at Newbury on Saturday or over in Ireland on Sunday. I'm not a great one for ante-post betting but perhaps now is the time to consider the 3/1 offered by Coral and William Hill about Kauto Star to win the Gold Cup. If Denman's return proves to be below par, Kauto is likely to shorten; even if Denman delivers, Kauto still has an excellent chance, particularly if the race is run on decent ground.

Finally, here's a salutary tale to finish on. A colleague of mine popped into a William Hill shop early last week, took a pre-printed football coupon from one of the several holders found in such establishments and invested £2 of his own money on an eight match accumulator. The writing at the bottom of the slip indicated he would collect £70 should his eight predictions come to pass. As a matter of interest, he later logged onto his computer, typed in the same eight selections on the William Hill website and was horrified to discover that the online payout would be £88. Fortunately for him, West Brom failed to beat Manchester United.

From Newmarket to Fontwell

Tomorrow thirty five go to post at Newmarket for the Cambridgeshire run over a trip of nine furlongs; the market has proved a reasonable guide over the years. Firstly, let me admit that the Cambridgeshire is not one of my favourite races. At the time of writing Luca Cumani's Swop is 8/1 favourite with most bookmakers but Ladbrokes have taken a stand by offering 10s. Prince Kalamoun has been steadily backed through the week while I wasn't too convinced by Ask The Butler's performance when sixth behind Presvis at Newbury a fortnight ago. Sir Mark Prescott fields two, Master of Arts and Caravel. The ground looks to have gone against the former; as the trainer feels there isn't much between the two on the gallops I'll risk a small each-way investment on the lightly-weighted Caravel at around 16/1 - over the past ten years eight winners have carried less than nine stones.

The jumps season is gradually building momentum and Fontwell stages an interesting card with the first race due off at 2.15. The handicap hurdle at 5.10 is competitive; top weight Winsley Hill will be popular after his second behind King's Head at Plumpton recently. In the closing stages of that race Alrafid made up plenty of ground to finish fourth on his comeback after a break. If he can build on that effort course winner Alrafid should be on the premises and rates an each-way bet at around 8/1. The performance of Postmaster in the 3.25 will provide a pointer as he was beaten a neck into third by Winsley Hill at Plumpton with the selection four lengths behind.

Postmaster is the top-rated animal in the 3.25 but faces an improving sort in David Pipe's Phoenix Des Mottes. The Pipe runner is likely to start favourite but Evan Williams' charge would offer some value if 3/1 became available.

On official ratings Tayarat is the one to beat in the opener. His jumping was far from perfect last time on his first try over hurdles but he still managed to finish second, clear of the rest of the field.

Only eight go to post in the 4.35 but a couple could go off like scalded cats. Soleil Fix is one of them and is of interest but on balance this looks just a little too trappy.

From Frankie to Fontwell

Frankie may have won two Derbys in two days, but the first at Fontwell this evening looks an intriguing race. Norman Beckett catches the eye, having finished a close second to Mon Michel (in which Betfair owner Andrew Black has a part share) over the course and distance last time. NB has done most of his racing on ground with some cut so today's conditions are something of an unknown; however the Racing Post form describes him as 'a certain future winner'. Another I expect to progress from last time is Henrietta Knight's Shekel who could go well as a price.