The public has been waiting for an announcement from Nicky Henderson with regards to Constitution Hill’s plans for the coming season and he confirmed that his unbeaten hurdler will remain over timber. With this in mind, the markets for the Cheltenham novice chases could be worth a look. Constitution Hill was ante-post favourite for the Arkle which has potentially opened a door for this 16-1 shot. You can check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Inthepocket (16-1, Paddy Power) proved himself to be not far away from the top bracket of novice hurdlers last season. He kept on nicely to finish fourth behind Marine Nationale in the Supreme at Cheltenham back in March. Henry de Bromhead’s charge followed that up with a solid performance in Grade 1 company at Aintree, where he won despite Rachael Blackmore dropping her whip. That wasn’t the deepest of Grade 1 races but he did well to win nonetheless.
He has a proper Jumps pedigree and the switch to fences should inspire plenty of improvement. There’s always a chance that he could go back up to 2m4f and go for the Turners but you need to stay well to win an Arkle and the race could suit him nicely.
Clearly he has a bit to find with Marine Nationale but the substantial price difference between the two makes him a much more interesting ante-post play. Connections would have purchased him with chasing in mind and if he lines up on the day, this JP McManus-owned horse would surely garner some interest. A lot will happen between now and March but you could certainly do worse than this lad.
Inthepocket @ 16-1 (Arkle Chase)
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.