Find all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.
Two meetings to look forward to this week at Newbury and Warwick in the run-up to Cheltenham.
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Newbury’s main highlight is the top-class William Hill Hurdle, a Class 1 Premier Handicap. This is backed up by two Grade 2 chases and two Class 3 hurdles.
The other televised meeting is just 60 miles from Newbury at Warwick, where three races are being covered, two Class 1s and a Class 2 Veterans Handicap Chase. I have trawled this meagre fare for value, and here are my thoughts and this week’s Lucky Fifteen.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.00 Newbury. Kadastral
1.35 Newbury. Tranquil Sea
3.20 Newbury. Lanesborough
2.25 Warwick. Grandeur d’Ame
Bet this lucky 15 on Bet365
Beginning at Newbury with the 1.00, the William Hill Epic Boosts Novices Hurdle, this is a Class 3 race run over 2m 1/2f. Phillip Hobbs’s and Johnson White run one of their stable stars here, Sober Glory, who won here at Newbury last month, adding to a victory at Chepstow last November. However, he carries a penalty for those victories, and that may hold him back.
Chris Gordon’s Kocktail Bleu won his maiden at Fontwell in November and was a fair second at Kempton last month.
Nicky Henderson runs Fantasy World for his first run over hurdles after three wins on the flat, including a Listed race at Ascot last October. It remains to be seen if his jumping holds up.
Dan Skelton’s Kadastral has won twice here at Newbury. Once last March in an NHF race and in December in a Class 3 maiden hurdle. He comes here looking for a treble. I would be surprised if anything other than these is successful here, and if I had to pick one, I would go with Skelton’s horse.
At 1.35, it is the Class 3 William Hill Each Way Extra Handicap Hurdle. This stayers hurdle is run over 3m 1/2f. This looks like a very open contest, and the current favourite is Dan Skelton’s A Pai De Nom, who has won three times already this season, latterly at Kempton last month, but he is upped in trip here for the first time.
Skelton also runs Tranquil Sea, who won a race at Chepstow in October that was just 220 yards shorter than this. Since then, he has been running in Class 2 races and drops back in class here.
Paul Nicholls’s Below The Radar has not won for two years. He ran second at Haydock last month in a Grade 4 race. This race is a step higher, and he needs to show improvement.
Mel Rowley’s Kyntara has been running just out of the places in races at this distance but was pulled up at Haydock last month, and that is a worry. I see very little else to trouble these, so I take Tranquil Sea to gain another victory.
The William Hill Hurdle is at 3.20. This Premier Handicap is a Grade 3 race run over a distance of 2m 1/2f. As usual, this is a highly competitive contest, and several of these have raced against each other this season, with different results each time.
Paul Nicholls has the top weight with Tutti Quanti, who won Grade 3 here in November, beating Hot Fuss into 6th. He has had this race as his target for some time, but top weight is a drawback.
Warren Greatrix’s All In You won at Sandown in early January after being runner-up behind Dance And Glance at Ascot in December. He beat that rival into second with Hot Fuss in 4th.
Anthony Honeyball’s Dance And Glance won that December Ascot race with All In You, Let It Rain, and The Hardest Geezer behind him. Dan Skelton’s Let It Rain won a small race at Wetherby last season and was third at Ascot on his only run this term.
Tom Dascombe’s young horse Hot Fuss won at Windsor last month and has a 5lb penalty for that win. Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Un Sens A La Vie has won twice this season, latterly at Ludlow in December, but steps up in class here.
I prefer Ben Pauling’s Lanesborough, who romped away with a Class 2 at Doncaster in December, then ran in the Lanzarote at Kempton last month over 2m 5f. He drops back to his favoured distance here, and he is my selection.
Moving a few miles north to Warwick, the 2.25 is the Unibet Middle Distance Series Veterans Handicap Chase, a Class 2 race run over 2m 4f. These veterans’ chases have become very popular with racegoers and punters alike, as they see their old favourites run. Dan Skelton’s Le Milos, who won this last year, is the current favourite after his good run into second in Sandown in early January.
Paul Nicholls has two runners here, Outlaw Peter and top weight Knapper’s Hill, and it’s the latter that interests me. He is a multiple winner for the yard, but his two runs this season have been in small fields, and he has failed to make any impression. But the two 10-year-olds take the eye.
Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Guard Your Dreams is a past course and distance winner and was last seen running second in a Class 2 at Uttoxeter last May. Alan King’s Grandeur d’Ame has run in Grade 3 company on his last two outings. His latest run was on New Year’s Day, and he finished third at Cheltenham. A repeat of that form can see him take this.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.00 Newbury. Kadastral
1.35 Newbury. Tranquil Sea
3.20 Newbury. Lanesborough
2.25 Warwick. Grandeur d’Ame
Bet this lucky 15 on Bet365
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