Our resident horse racing expert Adrian Wall is back with his ITV Racing longshots for Saturday. He expects these runners to outrun their large current odds…
Receiving lumps of weight from the entire field, Pure Bliss has a solid each way chance here for trainer Harry Fry. Although this horse has to improve again on what she has shown, she is in the right hands to do so. The one massive thing in her favour is the fact that she loves heavy ground. With very little weight on her back, she might be able to fly through the mud. She bolted up at Ffos Las on bottomless ground on debut and won a pair of Novice hurdles at Uttoxeter and Exeter in late 2020. The way she finished off her race last time would suggest this step up in trip will suit.
It has to be highly interesting that Willie Mullins sends Grangee over for this. There are very tight regulations surrounding travel at present so he would have had to pull up a lot of roots to get this girl sent across the Irish Sea. She may well win but Olly Murphy’s Chosen Port is too large a price to ignore. The five-year-old mare was sent off the even money favourite on debut, backed as if defeat was out of the question. She hit a low of 1.16 in-running and got beat but it was a very promising run and she looks like a very good horse in the making.
Off the track for well over 800 days, Geordie Des Champs looks a huge price providing he can bounce back to somewhere near his best. There is every chance that he may need the run but Rebecca Curtis has just struck form, sending out a winner at Bangor on Thursday. Now a 10-year-old, he has contested some top handicaps over both hurdles and fences in the past and has placed from much higher ratings than this. Owner JP McManus certainly knows how to plot one for a handicap so if it isn’t tomorrow, he is still one to keep a close eye on.