Equinties - a look at the Greatwood

Gm Equinauts

We said our bumper selection CASTLE CARROCK would by half the track and by half the track he did. He takes us to 5 winners from our last 9 bumper verdict horses and as promised, we’re giving the winnings away to a weekend subscriber.

We randomly scrolled through the weekender subscribers and landed on REECE_PAGE - that’s the start of the email address and yes, we are going to assume your name is Reece! Congrats Reece, we’ll send you an email this afternoon to arrange payment!

The bumper competition will be back tomorrow for Newcastle’s flat race.

Now, let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

A LOOK AHEAD

Last week’s return for A Look Ahead landed good 16/1 place money as GABORIOT ran a big third in the Grand Sefton.

This week, because we have such a big handicap on the Sunday of Cheltenham (and we don’t have a newsletter on Sunday), we’ve had a look at the Greatwood Hurdle.

Described as one of the best handicapped jumps horses in training by many people online, DYSART ENOS heads the betting.

This has been the plan for a while and Fergal O’Brien has the right facilities to properly prep one fitness-wise, so there’ll be no trouble there.

She needs to brush up in the jumping department, she was a bit slow over her hurdles at Huntingdon , but her form of beating GOLDEN ACE in the Aintree Mares’ Bumper has her well-handicapped here.

The case of being a well-handicapped unexposed hurdler could be made for BURDETT ROAD as well off 133.

His win at the Cheltenham November meeting was very smart and being beaten 10 lengths by SIR GINO probably isn’t bad form either! He’s a 109-rated horse on the Flat but he’ll need to keep a lid on it in this big-field handicap as he can be a hot head.

This race has been the plan too for GO DANTE as Olly Murphy has been working back from this race.

However, one would question whether he likes good ground as he was a non-runner on the ground in October 2021 and he’s a heavy ground winner. Also, he’s no certainty to perform off a career-high mark of 134.

JP’s UNDER CONTROL is in the line up at 9’s. She carried the same weight as IBERICO LORD when beating him at Sandown four starts ago and IBERICO LORD is now a Greatwood and Betfair Hurdle winner who could be a Graded novice chaser this year, so that form looks good. She was running on soft that day and she arguably got to the front too soon, so the run can be upgraded. She likes good ground and she split ASHROE DIAMOND and GALA MARCEAU two starts ago, so she must have a good chance of going close here.

BE AWARE could be anything. Great analysis, right!?

He won on bumper debut and then placed behind KAMSINAS and HELNWEIN in his final two starts of the season. He did plenty right across just four months last season, but there’s a risk taken on his race fitness.

Of the rest, LUMP SUM looked very good in the Welsh Champion Hurdle but he has an extra nine pounds to carry due to the handicapper and Dylan Johnston’s lower claim in the saddle. He should go on the ground and has plenty of speed so can’t be discounted really.

JACOVEC CAVERN goes into the ‘could be anything’ camp due to his trainer Emmet Mullins. He was highly tried against LOSSIEMOUTH and GALA MARCEAU as a juvenile in 2023 and had a big break until coming back this summer. Late money for him could be interesting.

Verdict: We backed DYSART ENOS at Aintree last year when she bolted up so we’ve always loved her since then but we haven’t been properly enamoured by her over hurdles. To be fair to her, she hasn’t really been tested too much yet but to the eye, she just doesn’t look impressive so on that basis we’re going to go with the battle hardened horse in BURDETT ROAD at 5/1 ew. We think he can win this and send racing X stir crazy over SIR GINO.

GLOBAL OPERATOR

Brian Ellison has plans for redemption with Melbourne Cup flop ONESMOOTHOPERATOR.

Ellison said: “He’ll be back next Friday, go to Dubai in January and have a couple of runs out there and we’ll basically take it by ear and see what happens and he may go back out (for the Melbourne Cup) again next year.

“He probably will target the Plate next year but whether he’s too high or not, I don’t know. What did he run off last year – 93? The Australians rated him about 105, so we’ll see.

“The Plate would be a good step-up run though if he did go back out to Australia. It’s great that he’s won on grass. He did thrive when he was out there. He did really well. He’s never left anything, he’s really well.”

He’s certainly giving Ellison and the yard some thrill. Best of luck to them!

His Plate form line took a little boost yesterday as EVALUATION, second in Newcastle’s feature Flat handicap, bolted up on hurdles debut for his new yard, Lucinda Russell.

It was one of the worst races of the day and he probably won’t amount to anything too brilliant over jumps but the way he won yesterday, you’d think he can certainly take a few scalps in rise through the handicaps.

HOME FROM L’HOMME

The King George could be some race this year.

GAELIC WARRIOR, IL EST FRANCAIS, IL ETAIT TEMPS, GREY DAWNING, HEWICK, and even FASTORSLOW if connections supplement him for the race.

And after yesterday, you can add L’HOMME PRESSE to the list as he will be targeted at the race by Venetia Williams.

It’s a nice move by Williams. The yard usually goes well at that stage of the season and one can hope the ground will be soft enough for him.

One does have to question why he is not in the Betfair Chase, however.

The ground at Haydock tends to ride on the slower side and Williams won the race last year with ROYALE PAGAILLE. He would love a test like that, and if he doesn’t go well, he could then go to the King George with race fitness.

Anyway, the King George will be his starting point, as his part-owner Peter Pink said: “The trouble is when you are a Group One horse, there aren’t many options over here in this country before Christmas. He won’t be ready for Haydock and Venetia is getting him ready for the King George which is going to be a hot race I think.

“We’ve had a couple of little injuries and he had a little bit of colic, but he is fine now and Venetia said she will have him spot on and at the moment he is in good form.

“We’ll probably look at the Fleur Du Lys again as well and will probably go there anyway. Touch wood we get lucky and don’t get any injuries or any setbacks.

More: https://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/ladbrokes-king-george-vi-chase-lhomme-presse-on-target/221788

RISK ON

One bet, one winner in CAMINO ROCIO Tuesday and a strong bet landed yesterday in DO IT AGAIN… let’s see if we can actually, DO IT AGAIN. Sorry, we had to.

13.15 SOCKS OFF

It’s a really bad day’s racing today and most people we know are cancelling the day, but we think this lad deserves a small bet. He got tired late lto and should now be cherry ripe after that recent blow out. He’s carrying top weight but that’s because he’s undoubtedly the best horse in the race now NEIGH BOTHA is out. He’s a bumper winner, a course hurdles winner, now he can bag this to collect a pot in all three jumps disciplines. 11/2 small win bet.

14.15 TOUT SUR MOI

Time for this lad to get his had in front. 11/10 a medium bet.

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