Older horses hold the upper hand in the Foxhunter Chase in recent years and Baby Run should make a bold bid to follow up his success twelve months ago. Young Sam Twiston-Davies is an up and coming jockey and confidence can be assured he’ll have this horse nicely placed for an assault towards the winning post. Rudi Trucker should give his running and a line can be put through his last run at Leopardstown where the ground was on the heavy side. But a chance is taken on JUST AMAZING with Ryan Mahon in the saddle. This horse from Paul Nicholls’ yard will appreciate the slight step up in trip and has won at Cheltenham before, certainly worth a market inspection. Get a free £25 bet with William Hill.
Experience is key
Experienced horses are the ones to look out for in this race. The stiff numbers of fences are capable of catching a lot of horses out who lack fluency over obstacles. Last year Baby Run from the Twiston-Davies yard justified joint favouritism to land the spoils at 9/2. The 10yo gelding had placed five times over course and distance before landing the £40,000 Foxhunter Steeplechase prize. So those runners with previous promise over the obstacles at Prestbury are definite contenders when analysing the form picks for this race. What probably does make it harder though, is that horses eligible for this race must have a couple of first and seconds to their name in hunter chases at the very least. This means horses are going to arrive for this race in similar good form which makes it difficult to predict the outcome.
Keep an eye out for…
Sam Twiston-Davies is one of the top young amateurs to keep an eye out for and no doubt his father will be giving him the best possible chance of riding a Cheltenham Festival winner in this race. The major stables are always worth chancing in this hunter race, Paul Nicholls claimed consecutive victories in 2004 and 2005 while ex-jockey Jonjo O’Neill took the honours in 2007 with 9yo Drombeag. And it is horses this age that have a very good recent record winning four of the last six so could another be about to take what is often referred to as the ‘amateur Gold Cup’?
The last two runnings of this event have gone to single priced winners but prior to these we saw a 33/1 in 2008 and two 20/1 winners in 2006 and 2007. Trends aren’t quite so predictable for this race and chancing with a big price outsider could pay once more. Value is a certainty in this race as two 66/1 horses have made the placings in the last decade so do not be put off by the price because you just never know!
Bet 365
Victor Chandler
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