Equinties - Hendo’s army

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It’s a red hot, sexy card today at Newbury with track owner and all round legend, Hendo, sending out the big guns. 

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Anyway, back to the racing. Included in the Seven Barrows powerhouse line up today is the 350k point to pointer, JET POWERED, who brings with him as much hype as I can remember for a horse. Something Nicky was quick to address… 

A horse with slightly more experience, BALCO COASTAL,  carries just as much market expectation as he makes his chase debut - he was smashed into fave two days before the race almost as if it’s a walk over. On stats alone, COASTAL PATHS seem much more comfortable over hurdles (and in bumpers!) so trust me when I say it’s not my money on him. 

Next up of Hendo’s big entries is RUSSIAN RULER. Not quite a hype horse per se but there were definitely whispers of big things to come for this lad last year…namely my whispers, my bad (I swear someone told me he was a Supreme horse this season) but still…

Grade 1 winner and incredible Cheltenham winner, CHAMP, makes his seasonal reappearance to complete the ‘big gun’ line up. This lad is personal favourite of mine just for his ridiculous engine. I was sad last season when he was a no-show at the festival (I thought he was winning the stayers), people say he’s long in the tooth but he’s only 10 and that engine is 100% all there. He’s my Hendo NAP today. Let’s go CHAMP. 

It’s not just the Hendo show though. Nicholls sends out a 305k point to pointer STAY AWAY FAY and his yard beast, STAGE STAR, who looks an exciting chaser in the Grade 2. Fat Dan Skelton, the young pretender, alongside his brother send out an expensive point to pointer ITTACK BLUE who cost nearly as much as Hendo’s but was immediately given away in the opening prices.

Skeltons also throw some big darts in the form of HEEZER GEEZER and other very capable horses. 

It’s going to be some days racing. Let’s dive in. 

Headline Roundup

Tuesday retired on Thursday 

This season’s Epsom Oaks heroine TUESDAY was retired by connections yesterday following her Breeders’ Cup victory earlier this month. 

The three-year-old by GALILEO, out of the two-time Gr1-winning mare LILLIE LANGTRY, was electric to return to winning ways in Keeneland and collected just shy of £1.5m in prize money throughout her career. 

Trainer Aidan O’Brien and connections already have a plan for her, as the master of Ballydoyle said: "She was young and that's why we had to be very tender with her after the Guineas. We just leaned on her for her last run and we saw the result. She was very good. She'll be staying in America and I think the plan is for her to be covered by Justify." 

She certainly was special – thank you, Tuesday! 

Gurning Ghiani  

Last season’s champion apprentice rider Marco Ghiani had his riding license suspended for six months yesterday after he tested positive for cocaine in August. Lol. 

The Royal Ascot-winning jockey tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, at Newcastle on August 25th – his urine sample came back days after and he was officially stood down from riding duties on September 5th at Brighton. 

The six-month ban begins from this date so he will be able to ride again in early March 2023 – this is very sad to hear for such a promising jockey. 

More: 

Newbury preview 

ITV cameras head over to Newbury today for the first day of the Coral Gold Cup meeting and we have two Grade 2 contests to talk about ahead of the big day tomorrow. 

Grade 2 2m4f Novices’ Chase 

As mentioned in our declarations section of the newsletter yesterday, five are set to go to post for the first Graded contest of the weekend and STAGE STAR tops the market at 4/6 for Paul Nicholls and the mustard man Harry Cobden. 

Already a successor over fences to beat the very nifty WEST CORK, he isn’t the highest rated in the race but he is in receipt of five pounds from BEAUPORT and SEBASTOPOL – Nicholls won this race back in 2015 with CLAN DES OBEAUX and DENMAN in 2006 so he doesn’t mind sending his good ones to this race. 

Nigel Twiston-Davies’ BEAUPORT is next in the market under Tom Bellamy, another horse who is 1/1 over fences as he beat the Grade 1 winner MILLERS BANK in a Listed event at Carlisle last month. 

The form of that race looks decent as he had the nifty MINELLA DRAMA and BEAR GHYLLS stretched out at long intervals in behind but the current ground at Newbury is good and he is yet to race on anything quicker than good-to-soft, which could be a potential worry. 

CAMPROND is the most interesting runner in this field as we are yet to see what he can do over the big obstacles thanks to his first fence unseat lto in a race won by MCFABULOUS. 

Fourth in the Greatwood Hurdle last year, one of the strongest races on form throughout the season, reads well and he has the 2021 Grade 2 Persian War Novices’ Hurdle under his belt, however, we are yet to see whether he is at that top level.  

Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle 

Just the six line up for the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury today and the market has seen sustained support head the way of CHAMP for Nicky Henderson and Jonjo O’Neil Jr. 

Boasting a stellar record of six victories and three seconds from nine races off a 70+ day break, you can see why CHAMP has been well found in the market – he won the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle off a 274-day break last year and he can perform on good ground.  

A horse the bookies have been unable to give away has been PROSCHEMA for the Skeltons as he has drifted from the clear ante-post favourite to 11/4 – he comes into today after ripping the field apart in the Grade 2 bet365 Hurdle last month and is considered the improving pretender in the lineup. 

Once a Stayers’ Hurdle winner and third in last season’s renewal behind FLOORING PORTER, the 10-year-old PAISLEY PARK is back for Emma Lavelle and Aidan Coleman – before we go any further, let’s look back on his best triumph of last season, the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham. It really is some watch from start to finish. 

He beat CHAMP twice around Cheltenham last season and was only beaten by three lengths in the Stayers, so on form, he should be right there. 

When he was younger, the Andrew Gemmell-owned superstar would run extremely well off a break, but last season he took a couple of runs to get up to his usual level and he always finds a way to hit a flat spot in his races – how good would it be to see him win today? 

Last year’s winner THOMAS DARBY is as big as 9/1 for the in-form Olly Murphy stable, a trainer who fired in two winners on Wednesday and has begun to turn his luck around in recent weeks.  

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Risk on 

We tipped HEEZER GEEZER tp 1/1 with STAGE STAR 1/1 as lev to BGP Capital but prices gone so todays newsletter bets are:

14.40 ANGLERS CRAG

Well handicapped and firing. Baileys yard out do form so taking his on, Venetias to beat and on form he can. Small play at 5’s.

15.05 CHAMP

Always runs well at Newbury and fancied. Half bet at 7/4