Looking outside at the weather I think we’ll be lucky to see any National Hunt racing this weekend but if we do I’ll be sticking with two old pals and hoping they can do the business.
One of them is HEY BIG SPENDER who runs in the Peter Marsh at Haydock. At 25/1 he is a massive price for a horse who loves testing conditions.
Across at Ascot I’m hoping TATENEN turns up to try and complete a hat-trick in the BetVictor.com handicap chase (he’s won this race for the past two years now). Somewhat incredibly Tatenen gets in off a mark of 144. Connections have placed him well to achieve victory off 137 in 2011 and then 143 last year so this year’s handicap mark should see him being competitive. I will be hoping for odds of around 10/1.
Fingers crossed the weather relents, if not I will be doing some ante-post speculating on a couple of my Cheltenham festival horses just to ensure a decent price on the day. Rule the World, a Gigginstown Stud owned horse trained by Mouse Morris and a future Gold Cup sort for sure, is currently 12/1 for the Neptune hurdle and worth an interest at those odds. My Tent or Yours, a Nicky Henderson trained horse owned by JP McManus, is also a 12/1 shot, this time in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. I like then both a lot.
Selections
Saturday 19th January
Haydock (Peter Marsh Chase) – HEY BIG SPENDER
Ascot (BetVictor.com Handicap Chase) - TATENEN