Caroline Bailey has a deserved
reputation as one of the country’s leading horsewomen, and the daughter of the
legendary Dick Saunders was not only the first woman to ride a winner at
Cheltenham (on Frank Gilman’s Ptarmigan in 1978), but has handled superb
jumpers like Teaplanter, Teeton Mill, Castle Mane and Gunner Welburn to success
in points/hunters. Her trademark has always been the ability to school her
young chasers to an exceptional standard, and that was again in evidence when Denali Highway made a most impressive handicap chase debut at Leicester in December. The gelding won a bumper on his
racecourse debut before failing to progress over timber for Alan King, but
looked transformed when seeing off his opposition in a novice handicap with contemptuous
ease. The only one to give him any kind of race was next-time-out winner Bobby
Dove, but a huge leap at the last open ditch had that one crying enough, and
the race was over long before he strolled across the line. The son of Governor
Brown has taken a rise of 10 lbs for that win, but in my opinion he had plenty
more up his sleeve than that, and the jumping test provided by Huntingdon will
suit him to a tee. He’s built to carry weight, so conceding lumps to inferior
rivals should be no problem, and he looks decidedly overpriced at around 9/2.
Of the others, Cruchain would be a big danger if avoiding mistakes, but he’s
virtually guaranteed to clout at least one fence these days, and that militates
against his chances despite his mark being undeniably lenient. Grey Missile was a selection for this column
last time, and is another on a good mark, but his tendency to carry his head on
one side when asked to challenge then is somewhat off-putting, and perhaps the
biggest danger will be bottom-weight Join The Navy, who will be picking up
ground late, and could benefit if the pace is overly strong.
The following novice chase is something
of a conundrum, with 3 looking closely matched on form, but none of the trio
having fully convinced with their jumping. Tetlami is the obvious favourite
despite being put firmly in his place by Overturn at Musselburgh last time, and
the fact he was chasing such a classy rival perhaps forgives his sticky jumping
there, but he’s very short in the betting, and it may be worth chancing Act of Kalanisi at the prices. Richard
Newland’s gelding is best on a right-handed track and while he’s
fallen/unseated on his last 2 starts, his jumping is no more of a concern than
that of Tetlami and Tony Star (beaten when falling last time). Odds of 6/1+ on
Betfair are overly generous on balance.
Recommended Bets:
Back Denali Highway in the 14:30 Huntingdon @ [5.3] (NAP)
Back Act of Kalanisi in the 15:00 Huntingdon
@ [7.2] (NB)
Superb result!
ReplyDeleteCheers Mully.
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