2017 Royal Hunt Cup

Plenty of potential blots in there but Fastnet Tempest looks very solid as a straight form go. No way should he be the same price or bigger than El Vip, George William and Banksea. He’s clearly a chunk better than those.

One that catches my eye at a big price is GM Hopkins. I’ve failed to get him right over the years but I notice he is back down to a very attractive mark. He’s a former winner and much better when allowed to race in a big field. He has had some bad luck in his last four big handicaps, either getting stuck behind walls of horses, blowing the start or racing on the wrong side. In between, he has shown that all the ability remains intact with a string of solid to-his-rating runs in small field conditions races. You’ll never see the best of GM Hopkins in a big field but he has run with credit every time.

40/1 seems big to me. He has a good middle draw, a positive jockey booking and might be going under the radar if people are just focussing on the fresh ‘form’ horses and just taking a superficial view of his recent runs.

LostSoldier3 wrote:

Plenty of potential blots in there but Fastnet Tempest looks very solid as a straight form go. No way should he be the same price or bigger than El Vip, George William and Banksea. He’s clearly a chunk better than those.

On Fastnet Tempest as well Lost Soldier, had a few AP bets at 12’s on him. The trainer has done a great job with him, i think i has a fair bit up his sleeve judging by his win at Chester which got him into this race. No idea how he won that race but he did’nt half show a turn of foot to just get up on the line. I’m expecting a bit of a punt on him in this race.

Got Battle of Marathon for a small bet @ 65.0 also.

66’s E/W 6 places bet

I’m with Nathan here on Tabarrak. He’s the class horse in the race and goes well on the ground, I think he can defy the top weight at 25/1. Another I like is GK Chesterton for the all-conquering boys in blue. He carries a penalty for his Epsom win, but I thought he did that in good style. I haven’t looked at the race in great detail, but I think these two could have the class to get get into contention.

Like many punters, I’m playing a few in this. Hors De Combat (40/1) has been the main selection for a few days now, I feel he’s ready to run a massive race and has been showing good form so far this year. I’ve also added Fastnet Tempest at 10/1 (he looks capable of continued improvement the handicapper’s required of him) and G K Chesterton at 18/1 (improving rapidly and has a progressive profile to go with the team’s current form) at the shorter prices. At the prices I’m with G M Hopkins (28/1) who should be competitive of his current mark, fast ground and back at a mile. The last one is Another Touch at 33/1 who finished 2nd to Banksea at Newbury off a 7 pound lower mark in April, has continued in good form and the jockey’s claim negates the rise in the weights.

Venture to Cognac wrote:

I had a terrible time of it last year at this meeting, but one of the few highlights was this race, nabbing Bossy Guest 6 places each way at 80’s, and he stopped the meeting being a total disaster for me.

After having serious problems coming out of the stalls, he’s looked back to his best this year, and I can easily see him going close again this year, and he does like it here when actually in the mood. Taken a bit of the 33’s, more win than each way, and if he does line up in this, I’ll take advantage of the 6 places on the day, albeit at lower odds no doubt. Very keen on him, and he looks overpriced to me.

I’ll definitely add another Ante-Post, and these catch the eye at the moment……..

GM Hopkins 25’s
Another Touch 33’s
Master The World 33’s
Accession (weather dependent) 33’s
Dolphin Vista 33’s
Bravery 33’s
Hasanour 50’s
Bornze Angel 40’s

Fair bit of work required to pick the bones out of that lot (not to mention all the others), but if I thought it was a serious target, then Von Blucher @ 50’s looks very big as well…….I’ve just talked myself into him, so it’s

Bossy Guest 33’s
Von Blucher 50’s

for me, with one other to be added no doubt.

GL

Sadly Hasanour is no more VTC.

Edit………….very sad news about him Circles, I heard last week, but didn’t know what happened. Hope he didn’t suffer.

I’m also on GKC, has a good draw, nice weight and connections are in blistering form – he may prefer it softer but he at least stays the mile.

On a trends basis not many winners exceed 9st5lb (only 3 have done it for the last two decades), so would be difficult for those at the head of the weights..

Will also do GM Hopkins and Bossy Guest each way – the former is obviously a previous winner and is back down to a fair mark and has a nicer draw – BG has run well here before and didn’t get a clear run last time, SDS will make sure he sees plenty of daylight in the last furlong!

Backed Tashweeq E/W @ 66’s 6 places as a saver

Just beaten a nose for 3rd in the Dewhurst a couple of years ago.