Find all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.
We have two jump meetings being televised this week with no fewer than five races from Kempton and one from Newcastle. Kempton will see what can only be described as hopefuls flexing their muscles to see if they will take their chances at Cheltenham in a fortnight but I really don’t expect to see any Festival winners in their ranks.
The one televised race from Newcastle is the Eider Chase, a Grand National trial that provided the Aintree winner in 2008, Sir Anthony McCoy’s only winner of the big race itself.
Also being shown on ITV this week is the all-weather meeting at Lingfield where the Winter Derby is the highlight and the Gosden’s Lord North looks to have every chance here. But I have concentrated on the jumps for this week’s Lucky Fifteen and here are my thoughts for this week’s bet.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.15 Kempton. Deyrann de Carjac
1.50 Kempton. Impulsive One
3.37 Kempton. Five Star Getaway
3.15 Newcastle. History Of Fashion
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
Beginning at Kempton with the first race on the card at 1.15 the Coral ‘Fail To Finish’ Free Bets Handicap Chase where Dan Skelton has the top weight, Flegmatik, who is also the current favourite. The last time out, he won here at Kempton but that was over three miles. He drops down in distance here and his weight could tell against some of the speedy horses he will face.
Nicky Henderson’s Patroclus won earlier this month at Leicester and needs good ground, any rain would spoil his chances.
Le Cameleon was also a winner last time for trainer Nick Williams. That was over a slightly shorter distance than this at Fontwell in a lower class contest.
Behind him that day was Robert Walford’s Foxboro who is 3lbs better off and he may run into a place here.
But my fancy is for Alan King’s Deyrann de Carjac who has been plying his trade in Class 1 contests at Cheltenham this winter ongoing which hasn’t suited him, a change of course and a drop in class may be the answer to get him off the mark for the season.
At 1.50, we have the Coral Adonis Juvenile Hurdle where Milton Harris’s Knight Salute looks to continue his winning ways. This unbeaten gelding’s sire is Derby winner Sir Percy, so there is plenty of class in his pedigree. He has a penalty here due to his wins so giving one of those lower down the card some hope here.
One of those is Graystone who has won much a lower class at both Warwick and Wetherby but his trainer Lucy Wadham’s may be aiming too high here.
Alan King says he sends Big Boy Bobby to try to get him to qualify for the Juvenile Hurdle at the Festival and that seems about the height of his aspirations.
Garry Moore’s Teddy Blue was a winner on the flat in France. His only run over hurdles was on heavy going at Lingfield he should improve on better ground and may well be placed.
Nicky Henderson’s Impulsive One finished behind Knight Salute twice in 2021 but was only beaten by less than a length on the last occasion. Since then, he has won a Listed race at Musselburgh and can go on to lower the Harris horse’s colours.
The big race on the card is the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase at 3.37 and this 3-mile contest has attracted a top-class field.
The current favourite is Evan Williams’s Annsam who won at Ascot in December but he has had a rise of 6lbs since that Listed win, this is a bigger challenge.
The top weight is Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Good Boy Bobby whose two wins this season have come at Wetherby, where many of his wins seem to come, he seems to have too much weight here.
Christian Williams has sent a pair of his best horses to contest this race, Cap Du Nord has bottom weight and ran a fair third at Doncaster last time.
Five Star Getaway looks to have a better chance after winning here at Kempton at the Christmas meeting.
Colin Tizzard’s The Big Breakaway was a close-up third at Newbury earlier this month and is expected to improve on that.
I will mention Dan Skelton’s Beakstown for a place after his two second-place runs in January but it’s Five Star Getaway for me.
Moving north to Newcastle for the Vertem Eider Handicap Chase at 3.15 where the top weight is Sean Curran’s Domaine de L’Isle who ran a fine second in a hurdle race at Southwell last month in preparation for his Spring campaign, but he may have too much weight here.
Emma Lavelle’s Eclair Surf was a winner at Warwick last month in a top-class contest and is sure to go well.
Nigel Twiston-Davies sends Checkitout on his way to Aintree. He won at Fontwell last time but this is a major step up in class.
Down at the bottom of the weights is Rupert Bevis’s Danilo d’Airy, a triple winner earlier this season who was pulled up in a Novice Hurdle last month when run off his feet.
But not for the first time this season the Irish have sent over a raider and in the form of Pat Fahy’s History Of Fashion they have another who was a winner at Down Royal in January where he came home comfortably, after the successes of Emerald Isle horses during this jump season he could well be another winner.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.15 Kempton. Deyrann de Carjac
1.50 Kempton. Impulsive One
3.37 Kempton. Five Star Getaway
3.15 Newcastle. History Of Fashion
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
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