This weekend is a big one for horse racing, particularly over the jumps.
There are a pair of major two-day meetings in Ireland and Scotland, while Sandown hosts a Premier Raceday. We also see the Surrey National staged on Friday.
At the Dublin Racing Festival, Willie Mullins utterly dominates much of the Grade 1 action. It has destroyed competition in all honesty and most of the races are worth leaving alone.
We’re looking at Leopardstown, the Scottish Cheltenham Trials and a few other races mostly at the ante-post stage in order to eke some value out of the weekend action.
Surrey National, 2.45 Lingfield (Friday)
This three-mile, five-furlong handicap chase should be very competitive. There are few confirmed odds at the time of writing, mostly tissue prices, but we have a good idea of how the market may look.
Everything’sontick (Lawney Hill), Lady Balko (David Pipe) and Dr Kananga (Ben Clarke) can all go well and are reasonable prices too. The only one who stands out a little at this stage however is Olly Murphy’s Here Comes McCoy.
He was a little unlucky in defeat at Uttoxeter last time, may get better luck this time and is also still improving.
Scottish Triumph Hurdle, 1.42 Musselburgh (Saturday)
This is a tough one as you’d expect with a juvenile hurdle but that being said, on the numbers there aren’t that many in contention here.
Nardaran is perhaps our second favourite here partly because he is trained by Paul Nicholls. While he’s on the shortlist, he isn’t the most likely winner based on what we know.
Static (Olly Muprhy) could definitely see this lot off at his best but, strangely for a four-year-old, appears to be going backwards. Luker’s Tipple (Andrew Kinirons) is another of major interest who’s probably overpriced.
There seems to be enough evidence to suggest that Harry Derham’s French import Maitre En Science will improve enough to hold this lot off. He’s available at 3/1 ante-post.
Spring Juvenile Hurdle, 1.50 Leopardstown (Saturday)
This is a rare one. Willie Mullins is dominating so many races. This time, Gavin Cromwell has the favourite in the shape of Hello Neighbour, however it’s a Mullins horse we like.
The horse in question is Sainte Lucie, an easy winner on her Irish/stable debut just over four weeks ago. At the weights, she may improve past the favourite and Lady Vega Allen, also trained by Mullins.
Scottish County Hurdle, 2.17 Musselburgh, Saturday
There are 18 horses left in this race at the time of writing, though a maximum of 15 can show up on Saturday. It’s tough, as you’d expect from a County Hurdle, so this is about looking at all relevant metrics with a wide view.
Having done that and on balance, Alfadil looks the most likely winner. Paul Nicholls’ six-year-old doesn’t really hold many secrets in this sphere, but he’s tough enough and well enough off in the handicap to go very well.
Behind him it seems Balhambar (Harry Derham) is worth a second look, as well as Scots Poet (Ewan Whillans) and Florida Dreams (Nicky Richards).
Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase, 2.35 Sandown (Saturday)
When we began rating this race, Impaire Et Passe (Willie Mullins) was still favourite as he had been all week. We rather fancied Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie however and now the money has come for him.
In his once chase run to date, he in our opinion outran whatever the others have achieved so far and there’s no doubt that there is plenty of improvement to come too. He is most definitely the logical choice it’s just a shame the price may have gone.
Kalif Du Berlais (Paul Nicholls) and Handstands (Ben Pauling) were the others on the shortlist at the ante-post stage.
Irish Arkle Novice Chase, 2.55 Leopardstown, Saturday
This race is yet another potential Mullins benefit race, but at least it’s vaguely interesting at this stage from a betting point of view.
His Majborough, owned by JP McManus, is the odds-on favourite going in, in fact he’s in danger of being called long odds-on. He remains vulnerable to something else though, in this case Mullins’ Ile Atlantique.
To our minds, Ile Atlantique ran to a mark only around 3lbs behind Majborough on his debut and he did it a couple of weeks before the favourite. That puts them close on our ratings and so with a second run under his belt and more experience, he could be the one to be on this time around.
Edinburgh National, 2.25 Musselburgh (Sunday)
This of course is another very close contest, at least until the final declarations are made.
Being unsure of the final line-up but looking for some potential value, our current 1-2-3 is Inis Oirr (Lucinda Russell), Planned Paradise (Christian Williams) and Cocetto (Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero).
Prices are pretty good just now and the hope is that they all run.