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Equinties - team talk
BGP Capital
February 11, 2026
Gm, Equinauts
Another meeting bites the dust today as Wetherby has been called off owed to the rain.
The betting opportunities remain few and far between.
Let’s dive in.
HEADLINE ROUNDUP
BIG TEAM TALK
Cheltenham is within reach and that means the yard tours are coming in hot.
Someone who isn’t coming in so hot though is one Willie Mullins. He was supposed to have his press day at Closutton today but told the press last night they were to meet at the pub instead and no one to go to the yard. We were wondering what the hell had happened, a yard lock down sounded bearish but our imaginations got the better of us as rumour has it the Wizard is just suffering from a bad back - probably from the weight of punters expectations in a months time.
Back to the big Cheltenham teams. de Bromhead’s bullishness on BOB OLINGER is plastered all over the Racing Post stating he is better than last year… literally the morning after the Racing Blogger asked X who beats TUHOOPOO lmao. The timing is incredible.
Henry provides a great training insight of when they first got BOB O. He said “after we bought him out of a point-to-point we worked him with all of our Cheltenham horses that year and we were all gobsmacked when we saw him working with them. It was either going to be a very bad Cheltenham for us, or he was a very good horse. Thankfully it was the latter”.
Brilliant.
BOB O is unbeaten at Cheltenham. An incredible stat. He won the old Ballymore in ‘21, the Turners in ‘22 and then missed the ‘23 and ‘24 meetings only to come back and smash up the stayers last year thus creating one of the greatest memes in betting history:
As we all know, BOB O beat the heavy fave TEAHUPOO that day but it seems Gordon Elliott is ready to make amends as he too has provided comments on his squad for March labelling his team one of the strongest ever.
His interview (in the RP) is full of confidence for his horses - he is adamant BRIGHTERDAYSHEAD will be a different horse this time around, knows TEAHUPOO sets the standard in the stayers, thinks WODOOH has untapped potential and calls EL CAIROS ‘very fast’. And that is only potentially 10% of the team he’s sending there!
Gordon admits the season isn’t just about March however and knows he’ll have to ‘box clever’ afterwards (think Aintree and Punchestown) if he is to keep on delivering the big results and cling on to his trainers title lead (for as long as he can).
A LOOK AHEAD
We the lack of news hitting the headlines today, we’re going to look ahead to Saturdays feature race - Ascot’s Swinley Handicap 15.00.
This competitive 2m 7f staying handicap chase over Ascot's right-handed track offers a key mid-season test for staying chasers, often producing strong form for spring targets like the Grand National or Scottish National.
5 of the last 10 winners were aged 10 meaning experience is key. but don’t let price put you off, this isn’t really a race for favourites. Only 1 of the last 12 favourites won; 6/12 winners were priced 6/1 or bigger — it's often a value/each-way race.
The going will be tough with more rain forecast so mud larks are a necessity, so we’ll only talk about the horses for the slop.
Fave is JOYEAUX MACHIN and on pedigree, he will love the ground but he doesn’t appear to be the biggest type, we shall take him on.
NOCTE VALTUS is a mud lark but hasn’t really had it for aaages. He’s a player at 11yo for Tom Lacey. He’s on a three-timer but a career high mark.
RIVERS CORNER is a proper mud lark. He wants it as deep as possible. He looked very good when slamming ISAAC DES OBEAUX back into second at Wincanton last time out. If he turns up in the same form, he has to be a payer despite the rise in the weights.
BLOW YOUR WAD is another who will love the mud. First run for the Moores, but if he runs to his best he can be competitive.
BEAUPORT is a huge price should he turn up. PU last time, faith required.
Venetia won this race last year and sends HUNTER LEGEND to do the business. He ran well last time out and carries a feather weight on the ground he needs. Can he help Venetia get back to her normal high standards?
And last but not least, good old SAM BROWN is bottom of the market. He has been such a great servant to Honeyball. Loves the mud and is absolutely class on his day. 14yo now though! Off top weight he’ll be trying for sure but it looks a tough ask - class horse in the race though.
Verdict: So so competitive. We’d LOVE to see HUNTER LEGEND win simply because we love Venetia and don’t want to see her crying on TV anymore. We’ll be cheering him on with RIVERS CORNER the main selection for Joe Tizzard.
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