It’s Haydock’s big day and the forecast going appears to be heavy with very heavy patches. Heavy going of this nature finds the men from the boys and even the two mile races will take some getting at the popular north West Track. The great news is the rain is set to stop this afternoon for the thousands making the trek.
The Betfair Chase is now firmly placed in the schedule as one of the top Steeple chases of the year and Cue card is a short priced fave to repeat his win in this. However Cue Card is surely better on better ground and was very disappointing first time out failing to win a sub standard Charlie hall at Wetherby. In fact his victor there Irish Cavalier is priced at 18/1 today whereas Cue Card is 15/8. Value merchants should muse on that for a while. I’m not saying Cue card won’t beat Irish Cavalier but at the prices…
Coneygree returns and firstly isn’t it fantastic to see the Warriors return after a year on the sidelines. He won’t mind the conditions one bit however to come back at this level first time out after a serious injury is one hell of an ask and sadly the great Champions rarely come back to the same level after serious injury. He would have to be fully wound up to win this and you couldn’t blame his connections if he wasn’t.
Seeyouatmidnight is another fascinating contender for Scottish stalwart Sandy Thompson. His only really bad run was at the Cheltenham Festival where he hated the quick ground (no worries on that score today Sandy) he returned this year with a pulverising win over Bristol de Man at Carlisle. I love this horse but sadly I think he isn’t quite good enough at this level though it would be fantastic to see him win.
My selection and the horse I feel is way too big a price is entering the Veteran Stage and that is Silviano Conti from the sizzling hot Nicholls yard. The horse recently ran in Ireland and ran ok but he was certainly not fully fit and today was the target.
His work has been superb since and back at a course he loves and Nicholls specialises in bringing these old heroes to the boil in this race when everyone thinks they are too old and I think he will pull it off again today and at 8/1 I’m backing him.
Have a fantastic Saturday, enjoy the Big race and stick the heating on full!!
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Back next Saturday.
Simon Holden Racing Club
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