There is no trainer in the country hotter than Nicky Henderson at present. 12 winners from his last 18 runners is flying form by anyone’s standards. Henderson sends three runners to Kelso on Sunday which make a tidy 25/1 acca for those making the 670-mile round trip from Seven Barrows.
It’s a track he has a 46% strike rate at in his career so there have to be strong claims of adding to the 68% win rate from the last fortnight. There is also racing from Fontwell, Uttoxeter, Navan and Punchestown on a busy Sunday afternoon for our free horse racing tips.
The horse charged with getting the acca off to the best possible start is Haul Away. A sound surface is important to him, cashing in on his lower chase mark at Uttoxeter when last in action. He has been put up four pounds for that success, placed from ten pounds higher over the bigger obstacles last summer. That suggests he is still very well treated.
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Connections have had to be patient with French Crusader and they can be rewarded for that here. He has not been seen in action since a six-length second to Epatante in a Newbury handicap in November 2019. Hindsight has shown that to be an impossible task but given that was off the back of a year off, being fresh should not be an issue for him.
Pitched in pretty deep in a short hurdling career, Grand Mogul has been given a wind op ahead of this debut over the bigger obstacles. A brother to the Willie Mullins-trained Brahma Bull who was last seen winning off 148 at the Punchestown Festival, he is bred to be better than 128. Conditions suit and chasing could well be the making of him.
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