First things first and apologies for a shorter than normal article this week as I brush up on the masses of prep work needed ahead of the Cheltenham Festival that starts next Tuesday. The plan is (and plans are subject to change), for me to provide a Cheltenham article each day.
Meanwhile, Ron Robinson (Worldofsport) and I have recorded a podcast for the second two days at Cheltenham which you can access here just to whet your appetite before the final decisions are made! https://theworldofsport.co.uk/2022/03/08/the-cheltenham-podcast-days-3-4/
Straight to the racing…..
Just the four races covered this week as explained above, it is ridiculously busy at the moment but I need to do what I can to at least try to find us all a winner or two over Cheltenham – but hopefully we have one or two here as well!
Lingfield 2.21pm
All eyes here will be on Godolphin’s gelded son of Kingman as King Of Time looks to follow up his debut win when strolling away with a C&D maiden in late February. He looked decent enough and the time was better than acceptable, and a repeat of that may well give him the edge over the Charlie Hills trained Aldhaja, an even more impressive winner at Southwell but in a slow time in comparison to other races on the card, and he will need to find a little bit more to get past the selection where it matters.
Sandown 2.25pm
The weekend before Cheltenham is always a bit of a damp squib to be honest, but we do have the Imperial Cup which comes with a big bonus (£100,000 I think) if the winner of this goes on to be successful at Cheltenham a few days later. Langer Dan was expected to run here for Dan Skelton and may well have been sent off favourite but he has now decided on Lucky One today instead and I wonder if that is a hint worth taking? With no offence to the Skelton team he seems to have gone backwards since arriving from the Paul Nicholls yard, with his three starts seeing defeats by 80 lengths, 32 lengths, and 43 lengths last time out when tried over further at Ascot. Hardly the NAP of the day with that form, he does need to get back to something near to his best, but in case we forget he did end his stint at Ditcheat rated 143 – and runs off a mark of just 125 here. If he runs as he has recently we are wasting our money, but there is no doubt he is very well handicapped if they can find a way to revive him, and at 16/1 or bigger, I’ll risk a little each way with my main bets elsewhere.
Wolverhampton 2.40pm
The 2.40pm at Wolverhampton this afternoon looks a really interesting contest despite being on the all-weather, and at seven furlongs, it is a specialist distance – too far for the sprinters and too short for the milers. At these weights it may be worth taking a chance on Highfield Princess, though I woold have preferred a lower draw to be honest. Now a five-year-old, the daughter of Night Of thunder has won four of her eight starts on the all-weather, all of them over the seven furlongs she faces here, which she can add to places at the likes of York (Group Two), and Goodwood (Group Three), so this Listed race is certainly not beyond her. On her return to action at Chelmsford she pulled too hard for her own good on her first start in four months before coming home third, less than a length off the winner, but with that race under her belt she should settle better now, and although this is a decent contest (Misty Grey is unbeaten here after four runs, Happy Power drops in class and so on), she should at least give us a big run for our money here.
3.00pm Sandown
With the Nicky Henderson yard seemingly out of sorts just days ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, all eyes will be on the Seven Barrows runners this weekend looking for confirmation one way or the other, with Luccia one I will be keeping a close eye on in the bumper at 3.00pm from Sandown. The winner of her only start so far at Warwick when cruising home, she gets in here carrying just ten stone four as a four-year-old which has to be a bonus, and yet she is forecast at a double figure price at the time of writing. Nico de Boinville rides as you would expect, and with the likelihood she has more to offer with that experience under her belt, I feel she ought to at least make the frame, but if she doesn’t, I will be watching the other Henderson horses with even more interest ahead of next week’s shenanigans.
Sean’s Suggestions:
Highfield Princess 2.40pm Wolverhampton
Luccia 3.00pm Sandown
Both each way and an each way double the two.
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