Upping The Ante – Episode 10

We’re really getting down to the business end of affairs now with just five weeks to go until the Cheltenham Festival, and this week’s focus is rightly directed towards the weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival. Considering that eight of the Festival winners from 2018 ran at last year’s two-day event at Leopardstown, the wisdom from Gavin Lynch and David Jennings is more important than ever. The pair give us the run-down on the past few days’ racing, including Apple’s Jade’s jaw-dropping performance in the Irish Champion Hurdle which has led to connections redirecting plans for her, a move that Lynch thinks is a smart one. Sponsors redzone.bet were rather relieved in the new direction for the mare, the majority of the bets prior to Saturday directed towards the Stayers’ and the Mares’. You can view our very own Cheltenham Clues here which has more thoughts on Apple’s Jade participation in the Champion Hurdle.

Similarly impressive was Joseph O’Brien’s Sir Erec who won the Juvenile Hurdle, and whom the pair think has a fantastic chance in the Triumph Hurdle. His stablemate Le Richebourg is sure to love the fast-pace of the Arkle, and is correctly placed at the head of the market for that race, although Lynch still questions the credentials of both Bellshill and Road To Respect, the closely matched pairing from the Irish Gold Cup for March’s showpiece, particularly given the competitive nature of this year’s edition. Over in the UK, the pair were impressed by the Philip Hobbs’ trained Defi Du Seuil who has gone from strength-to-strength in his four starts over fences, and was given potentially the ride of the weekend from a resurgent Barry Geraghty. Buveur D’Air was back to his resplendent best, scoring with greater ease than the winning margin suggested, and another who caught the eye was Dolos in scoring by four-lengths, and whom figures heavily in the betting for the Grand Annual.

This weekend’s racing is equally as crucial for Cheltenham when considering that by next Saturday last year, twenty-four of the twenty-eight winners had ran their last race prior to Cheltenham. There is sure to be a fair few winners coming out of Saturday’s racing, with the highly-competitive Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, in which Lynch loves the chances of Al Dancer, the match-up between Clan Des Obeaux and Native River in the Denman Chase, and Kalashnikov running in Warwick’s Kingmaker, whom Lynch suspects would be well-suited by a step up in trip and would be sure to go well in the JLT. Onto more concrete matters, and punters are in for a treat this week, with Gavin Lynch providing us with three tips, along with David Jennings giving us a huge selection for one of the handicaps, courtesy of redzone.bet

• Sir Erec – 9/4 Triumph Hurdle – an obvious selection given his wide-margin success on Sunday, as well as his high-class form on the flat, he looks a natural over hurdles and has progressed rapidly from his first to second start, having Tiger Tap Tap eight-lengths behind him when last seen, whom he had previously only denied by a neck. Joseph O’Brien’s colt, even at this price, ranks great value.
• Fakir D’oudairies – 11/1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – a four-year-old, Gavin Lynch strongly suspects that Joseph O’Brien won’t choose to run him against Sir Erec in the Triumph. Getting eight-pounds from the field, and given a recent thirteen-length win at Cheltenham in a lightning quick time, he stands a great chance in a race in which few have set the world alight as of yet and should go off half the price come race-day.
• Defi Du Seuil – 5/1 out to 6/1 JLT – a high-class hurdler who won the Triumph, last season was a wipe-out however he is a rapidly-improving chaser who won rather nicely last weekend. Topofthegame potentially ranks his main danger, however he may well end up in the RSA, giving him a great chance.
• Uradel – 12/1 out to 20/1 Coral Cup – fifth in the Ladbrokes Hurdle on Saturday, over an inadequate two-miles when tapped for toe, he stayed on to finish very well. The 2m5f trip should prove to be the making of him, and trends are on his side, given that Bleu Berry won this race last year in the same colours. Beaten a neck in the Cesarewitch, the Mullins-Walsh combination will see him a far shorter price within time, and considering that Jennings thinks he has a stone in hand, he is a cracking each-way bet.