- This topic has 37 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 2 months ago by
.
- Posts
Obviously one of the most competitive races of the festival. The one that interests me is BLEU ET ROUGE. He’d be the worst jumper of a fence you’ll ever see so connections have seen sense and it seems they might put him back over hurdles which is the sensible option. Just feel he’ll relish the hill and has a lot of class.
I would agree that Bleu et Rouge is interesting in this.
I’ve bet a couple in it, Taglietelle, and I Shot The Sheriff.
Taglietelle has slipped under the radar a bit, despite making the frame in the last 2 festivals. Not one of Elliots more high profile horses, but think he could run well here, and have taken a chance at 40’s ew NRNB.
I Shot The Sheriff is a horse who I don’t think is certain to start, but the NRNB makes him worth a pop, and took 33’s ew.
My main hope was always going to be The Storyteller, but his price looks wrong right now.
I’ll put in a word for a couple at big prices but both have entries in the County as well. The first is Allblak Des Places for Willie Mullins at odds of 33/1. Now he may well not line up but if he did he could be potentially chucked in off a mark of 140. This horse won on debut at odds of 1/3 in December 2015 before finishing 2nd in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown on his only other run that season. The form there isn’t looking too bad: 1st Footpad, 3rd Let’s Dance, 4th Ivanovich Gorbatov and 5th Jer’s Girl. Had a break of 324 days since (I assume some sort of issue emerged) before lacking fitness when 5th of 7 on Boxing Day but was since the choice of Walsh in the Coral.Ie hurdle, a race Mullins saddled 4 in. He finished down the field of a 2 pound higher mark but had little room that day and was given an easy time of things by the jockey perhaps with one eye on future engagements. The second potential runner, also at 33/1, is Hawk High. He won the 2014 Fred Winter off a mark of 130 an was very competitive off 146 in the 2014/15 season before something went wrong at the 2015 Festival. He came back however, to run 9th in last year’s County off 143 and in his sole start this season finished 3rd failing to give half a stone to a Paul Nicholl’s recruit up at Doncaster. He was making late headway in last year’s County and is handicapped to go well over a trip he’s fully unexposed at.
Good luck Charles, I like both those horses (though prefer Allblak for County), and could easily get them onside for this.
Need another one now with Taglietelli missing, but that NR is yet another endorsement for going easy on the handicaps until NRNB comes in. Very happy I waited for it.
Fond memories for me in this race from last year. Weighed into Mall Dini after Denis O’regan gave it a positive spin in a preview night – probably the only good thing he’s done in years. I can’t expect Denis to come up trumps for a 2nd year so i’ve had to do my own homework.
2 i like this time around are Perigrine Run and Lac Fontana. PR already has graded form in the book in beating the well touted Wholestone and West Approach in the process. Being out of Kings Theatre,he’ll need the quicker ground to be a contender but i think thats gonna be the case. LF won the county a couple of years back. The Nicholls team were proper sweet on his chances that day. He’s back on a similar mark and looks to of retained alot of the old ability last time out before finding 3m on soft abit of a stretch.
At 12s and 25s, im a player
I have Bleu et Rouge in the RSA, have I done my money
I don’t think it would get around in a race at cheltenham over fences, although that’s just my opinion i guess
Was at a preview last night in Laois and got talking to owner of Peregrine Run, they think he is massively well in. The last run was solely to get a mark for this (i was wondering why he was such a big price and kept on drifting) and as it would be an English rating Phil Smith couldn’t hike him, Tony Mullins also mentioned he thought he had a super chance and wished them all the luck.
Was at a preview last night in Laois and got talking to owner of Peregrine Run, they think he is massively well in. The last run was solely to get a mark for this (i was wondering why he was such a big price and kept on drifting) and as it would be an English rating Phil Smith couldn’t hike him, Tony Mullins also mentioned he thought he had a super chance and wished them all the luck.
Thanks for that news Foleroo
Could look thrown in on his defeat of Wholestone & West Approach off levels 
Probably the best handicap of the entire Festival here. This looks a particularly spicy year.
I’ve cut it down to six and have already had a couple of bets, but it looks like I’ll just have one runner and one saver by the off.
My first bet was Lac Fontana 25/1 e/w NRMB, taken almost as soon as the market went up, though I’m having a few regrets now. I like the way he travelled in his two comeback starts, but you need to take it on trust that he retains all the ability. He’ll need to be as good as he ever was to win this, especially with at least half a dozen potentially having 15lbs or more in hand. It was a bit of an impulsive bet and I’m not too happy with myself. Nicholls has suggested that he’ll join Tommy Silver in the Martin Pipe, so I’ll probably get my money back anyway.
I’m much happier with my 16/1 e/w NRMB Peregrine Run. I’m not sure how he dodged the wrath of Phil Smith when run-of-the-mill Gigginstown horses have been whacked so hard. He loves a decent surface and the West Approach/Wholestone performance looks 100% legitimate. He might even have enough in hand to overcome the handicap of Roger Loughran. He’s my main bet in the race.
Runfordave comes into the race with a similar profile to 2015’s unlucky loser Taglietelle. Gordon Elliott has said that The Storyteller’s injury will probably see the same owner’s Runfordave switch to the Martin Pipe.
Tombstone has obvious claims on his Supreme form but there’s no value in his price now.
The other obvious one is Consul De Thaix, whose handicap form is so strong. Stevie Wonder could tell you this horse will love a step-up in trip and he’s perfect saver material.
Almost forgot to mention Taquin Du Seuil, who has every chance of running into a place from his hurdles mark. 20/1 very fair and probably a better saver option than CDT.
Was at a preview last night in Laois and got talking to owner of Peregrine Run, they think he is massively well in. The last run was solely to get a mark for this (i was wondering why he was such a big price and kept on drifting) and as it would be an English rating Phil Smith couldn’t hike him, Tony Mullins also mentioned he thought he had a super chance and wished them all the luck.
Farcical stuff.
A clean slate for me with both my original selections, though with both NRNB, I’m happy that there’s no harm done. Not the biggest surprise, but I’ll be siding with the 2 already put up by Charles.
Allblak Des Places has been on my radar for The Festival for a couple of months now, and though I originally liked him for The County, this is more than do-able for him as well. Chance at a big price. Sure Reef looked destined for good things a couple of years back, but although only small shoots of recovery on his comeback runs, there’s surely no way he’d be making the trip for the sake of it, as connections don’t need to send horses here, just for the day out. I’ve went for the pair 40’s win, and 33’s ew 6 places.
I’ve seen enough of Mister Miyagi to forgive him his last run, and fresh from a wind op, then I could easily back him, but for the reasons given by Charles, I’m siding with Hawk High, 33’s win, and 28’s 6 places. I bet him in The County last year, and he gave me a decent run for my money.
Yep, happy with Hawk High & Allblack Des Places and I’ve chucked a fair few free bets on Supasundae at 18/1 as well.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.