Equinties - JP's double bid

Gm Equinauts

No winner of yesterday’s bumper competition, we go again today.

Be sure to subscribe to our weekender edition to be in with a chance of winning the cash prize.

Now, let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

HEWICK GOES

Haydock ground will be an interesting thing to predict in the run-up to this weekend. In our ‘a look ahead’ feature yesterday we predicted that the ground might be soft given the forecasted rain could turn the snow dampened course into a mud fest and as such picked a soft ground horse for the staying hurdles race, but we could be wrong.

Haydock tends to ride slower than most places anyway.

Naturally, one of the horses who we associate with good ground is HEWICK, so it would be easy to think he won’t make the trip over for the Betfair Chase.

But Shark’s putting on his big boy pants and having a bloody crack at it anyway!

Shark Hanlon has received hope from the Haydock clerk of the course that the ground will still ride on the better side of soft, and if that is the case, the King George winner will come over to Lancashire.

He said: "The plan is to run Hewick in the Betfair Chase. I was talking to the clerk of the course at Haydock this morning and he said the ground is good, good to soft in places at the moment. They're giving rain on Saturday but if it is still good to soft, Hewick will be there. I would be happy with good to soft on the day.

"It's not that he doesn't handle soft ground, it's just the fences look big to him on it and I'd be afraid he'd get hurt. He handled soft ground well in France last season when running a cracker to finish second in the French Champion Hurdle and has run two very good races at Punchestown and Down Royal this season."

Is the clerk putting trainers away just so they send their horses?

Maybe…

As for other Betfair Chase confirmations related to the ground, Gavin Cromwell confirmed that the Mares’ Chase winner and mud lark LIMERICK LACE is an intended runner if the ground softens up.

And newsletter hero THE REAL WHACKER, who was being saved for the King George, could revert to Haydock depending on the ground.

This news comes from a few days ago, but trainer Patrick Neville thought that the King George “is going to be very hot” and it could be a case that if the ground was nice at Haydock, “we’d go there”.

On the 17th, Neville said: "There's not much rain around and I can't see it getting very heavy before next Saturday, so we'll take our chance. You can take him anywhere when the ground is good. I've been delighted with him since Wetherby and he's in great form."

Now, whether the ground stays as good as Neville once thought it would be is debatable, but if it does, HEWICK and THE REAL WHACKER could be there on Saturday.

However, we must stress that a good five hours (or roughly 10mm) of rain is predicted for Saturday at this stage and if this i the case, THE REAL WHACKER certainly shouldn’t line up. What’s the point?

A JP DOUBLE

Can I AM MAXIMUS do what very few have done and back up his Grand National success this year?

That will be the year-long plan for Willie Mullins and JP McManus because they know he loves the course and he’s probably not good enough to win an open grade three-mile Grade 1 anymore.

But, the Aintree handicapper could be rather harsh on him.

So, it’s always good to have a few backups, right?

The one who could represent the UK for JP is IROKO for Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero who is set to start off his season in the graduation chase at Haydock.

He looked like a horse who could stay further when he won on chase debut at Warwick in November 2023, and his season was probably ruined slightly when he suffered a mid-season setback.

His final effort of the season saw him finish second to INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN over 3m1f at Aintree in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase, so he definitely has stamina under the bonnet.

On his potential trip to Merseyside, Guerriero said: “The long-term plan is the Grand National as JP [McManus] is very keen to go. He's a Graded horse who's been placed in two Grade 1s and he looks a classy horse going back into handicap company. He's got the right profile for the National as he's a very good jumper who stays well.

“We'll work back from that but it's going to be tricky because he's had only three runs over fences and we want to get some experience into him without affecting his mark too much.”

What do these comments implicitly tell us as well?

Well, immediately, our first thought is keep your eyes peeled for wherever the yards up and coming chaser WHITE RHINO goes because we know what he’s doing at home with IROKO!

His lucky connections who love him dearly have let us know his next target might possibly be at Haydock on the 4th, the day before he’s been shortlisted for an ROA award on the 5th! Could be a huge week for him!

But back to the IROKO form lines… third from his last race (the Mildmay), HEART WOOD, won a nice race at Wexford this season. The fourth, CHIANTI CLASSICO, has won an Ascot handicap since. The fifth, BROADWAY BOY, could go and oblige in the Coral Gold Cup.

If there are nice thoughts about IROKO, it all points to the fact that INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN is a smart horse, and you know the one race Gavin Cromwell will be working back from this year. The Cheltenham Gold Cup.

BIG MONEY FAMILY

Last year, TEONA was picked up by Juddmonte for 4.5 million guineas at the Tattersalls December Mares sale.

Fast forward nearly 12 months and her full brother was nearly purchased by the same connections, only for Godolphin to swoop in with the final bid and splash a cool €1,000,000 on the SEA THE STARS colt.

TEONA was a marvel on track. She raced just the seven times, but having won a Newcastle maiden in November 2020, she would go on to become a Group 1 winner in the Prix Vermeille 10 months later.

Her dam, AMBIVALENT, produced two more black type horses in the shape of AL HILALEE (DUBAWI) and IMPERIAL QUARTER (DUBAWI), the latter of which finished third to TAMFANA in the Atalanta Stakes. What a mum.

Plenty of comments that come out of the sales ring tend to be rather hyped up, but it’s worth reporting on them anyway, especially when the Derby is mentioned.

Anthony Stroud, buying for Godolphin, said: “He’s a beautiful horse and he’s out of a Group 1 winner. He’s by Sea The Stars, who speaks for himself, and he’s a full-brother to a Group 1 winner. Obviously we thought he was very nice; he moves very well, has a good body. He’s just an extremely nice horse and we’re very pleased to have him. Juddmonte were very strong opposition, as they always are.

“The dream is that this could be a potential Derby horse.”

What that big price tag, you’re perfectly entitled to dream big.

BUMPER

WARWICK

This is a hot bumper and perhaps one to take note of as there are several with winning pedigree’s.

Heading the market is DIAMONDS GALORE for Hendo. The half sister to bumper weapon WILLMOUNT, Nicky was over the moon when his now biggest owner Olly Harris moved WILLMOUNT to his yard. He’s now got a sibling set! Unlike her brother, DIAMONDS GALORE is by a sire who’s progeny typically do better over jumps so despite the rocket fuel carried in her blood, she might just be one for later. Regardless of how she runs today, both her and her brother WILLMOUNT are certainly exciting prospects for the yard!

BEAUTY IN THE PARK reps the connections who landed our bumper distance bet earlier in the week. A 95k sales purchase, she is a half to a useful winning mare for Newland without being special, so clearly should have ability.

FLAMINGO GROVE reps the JJ yard who have won this race the last two years. Can they do the hat-trick? Well she’s a point winner and half to Hendo’s once rated 150 horse PISTOL WHIPPED. By BLUE BRESIL, she owns a proper page.

TWISTTHENIGHTAWAY reps new bumper king Dan Skelton. Her full brother is a lowly rated winner for JP over in Ireland. Despite Skelton’s magic in these types of races, she is perhaps one for later down the line.

CHARISMA CAT is a bumper winner already for Alan King so carries a penalty. On that basis she should be one to take on but she is well bred and might just be able to carry the weight.

Alan King also runs ANNIE HATHAWAY who has a lovely pedigree being related to useful winners. It’s interesting they’ve shoved the claimer on this one instead of the penalised CHARISMA CAT…most would see that a negative but we’re thinking it’s a shrewd play to give ANNIE HATHAWAY every advantage of winning? At 25/1 we’re probably wrong.

Of the others, CINDERELLO owns a useful pedigree but needs to leave her debut behind.

Verdict: Hmm, this is tough! The money is piling in for Hendo’s DIAMONDS GALORE and that’s people following the WILLMOUNT blood, which is great! We just aren’t sure on the sire in a bumper. Saying that, you just know Hendo’s will be tuned up better than the likes of Nicholl’s or JJ’s.

Bumper competition: we’re going to put £100 on DIAMONDS GALORE at 13/8 for a lucky weekender subscriber to win should she oblige!

BUMPER RESULTS

03/10/24 KAYLAN 2/1 (11/8 SP) - 1st

08/10/24 LAURA LOU 11/1 & PLAYAWAY GIRL 14/1 - 6th & 9th

09/10/24 JOTO 2/1 6th

09/10/24 ID GO MANIAC 5/2 - 4th

12/10/24 MONEYGARROW 5/1 (13/8 SP) - 1st

16/10/24 KINGSLEY 7/1 - 8th

18/10/24 STRONG RUN 5/1 - 2nd

22/10/24 SECRET SNIPER 5/1 - 3rd

23/10/24 THE LONG WALK 100/30 - 3rd

27/10/24 SIOG GEAL 5/2 - 2nd

27/10/24 QUINNS REWARD 9/1 (14/1 SP) - 7th

27/10/24 TENNESSE TANGO 9/1 (12/1 SP) - 1st

28/10/24 ALLSTITCHEDUP 12/1 - 9th

30/10/24 KOSAC D’OUDAIRIES 11/2 (5/2 SP) - 5th

01/11/24 BEAU GOLD 11/2 - 8th

02/11/24 KAJIKIA 17/2 - 1st

07/11/24 BROOKSIDE LA 5/2 - 4th

07/11/24 EL CAIROS 100/30 - 1st

09/11/24 JOTO 7/1 (16/1 SP) - 4th

09/11/24 LINALENE 6/1 (9/4 SP) - 3rd

09/11/24 SWINGIN SAFARI 11/8 - 1st

11/11/24 OH CLARE 8/1 (3/1) - 4th

12/11/24 LADY TADITA 7/2 (5/4 SP) - 1st

13/11/24 CASTLE CARROCK 4/6 (5/4 distance bet) - 1st

15/11/24 TONY JOE 2/1 & BENMORE 7/1 - 2nd & 3rd

15/11/24 HUNTERS SPRING 11/10 (6/4 distance bet) - 1st

16/11/24 STRONG RUN 11/2 (11/1 SP) - 3rd

18/11/24 MALDINI MILANO 1/ 2 (9/4 distance bet) -1st

20/11/24 MONTICELLO 8/1 (11/1 sp) - 7th

RISK ON

We tried to be brave (albeit with small stakes) to find a big priced winner(s) yesterday but it was the hot fave DANTE’S LAD who saved the day at 9/4:

Today we like:

THE JOE TIZZARD TREBLE

We’ve never posted something like this before but we think Joe Tizzard can clean up at Wincanton. His strongest chances are in the 13.45, 14.15 and 15.58. The dirty treble pays 2/1.

17.30 GAMRAI

This lad is very good and is expected to win first time out for the Gosdens. Even money a good bet.

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