Equinties - Sandown Saturday

Gm Equinauts

The last Saturday before Cheltenham.

We’ve been inclined to simply observe the racing this week, tool firmly down, but we want to pick them up today and try win some bank for next week.

The newsletter will be posted as normal next week. It’s a lot of work, but we’ll try get it done in good time for every to digest and use accordingly.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

IN THE COUNTY?

Did you know KOPECK DE MEE translates to I AM THE COUNTY in French?

Imagine the scenes. Willie and JP using a French horse named I AM THE COUNTY in order to bypass the new Cheltenham qualification rules and land the mother of all gambles… in the County.

It sounds too wild to be true, right!?

That’s because it is. His name does NOT translate to I AM THE COUNTY, we’ve made that up but it seems to be he is likely to run in that race over the Martin Pipe.

Yes, the Racing X machine has been doing its thing over the last 24 hours to suggest that KOPECK DE MEE, this huge ex-French Willie Mullins-trained hype horse, is going to the County Hurdle.

The first shout for this rumour that we saw came from none other than Megan Nicholls as she was on a preview panel with AP McCoy in Portugal – of all places – and he said this was occurring.

Now, a quick glance at Oddschecker sees KOPECK DE MEE at 7/2 for the County and 3/1 for the Martin Pipe, so that wouldn’t be much of a guide. It’s all pretty much on vibes at the moment, but it seems like all of the chat is for the County and very little for the Martin Pipe.

It’s interesting that the County is potentially going to be the vote, Mullins has 16, just 16, entered for the County, though a fair few are big prices. ABSURDE is 7/1 having won it last year, KARNIQUET is 12/1 with his KOPEK DES BORDES form, and KARGESE is 9/1 despite maybe going to the Mares’ Hurdle.

Quickly on ABSURDE, Mullins was plotting towards a foreign Flat race the other week but he wasn’t quite right. He may still be nicely handicapped, but the worry would be if he is 100%.

The Mullins camp ruined ETHICAL DIAMOND’s mark by winning a poor novice hurdle the other day, BATMAN GIRAC is running today, JIMMY DU SEUIL hasn’t run since last year’s Gallaghers (and he could go elsewhere), DADDY LONG LEGS is badly handicapped, and it’s hard to make a case for the others. So, when you actually look at his potential team, KOPECK DE MEE looks like the one.

His Martin Pipe team doesn’t look that strong either, but the green and gold have MCLAUREY for Emmet Mullins on the back of his DRF handicap win. He is 16lbs higher, mind.

 There’s one thing for certain - if this KOPECK DE MEE wins any race, just log out of Racing X for the an hour or so, it will do your mental health some good.

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