Saturday TV Stats – 250/1 Cracker Acca!

Un De Sceaux and Paul Townend win the Clarence House Chase

Trends Analysis: Saturday 18th Jan 2020

It’s been a wet week, so fingers crossed the big Saturday meetings get the all clear.

If they do, then it’s Ascot and Haydock as the two showcase fixtures, with the ITV cameras showing seven races across the two venues.

At Ascot, the Grade One Matchbook Clarence House Chase (3.35) is the headliner as the Willie Mullins-trained Un De Sceaux looks to win the race for a remarkable fourth time.

Then up at Haydock, the Peter Marsh Chase (2.40) gives us a chance to see some potential Grand National horses in action so an abundance of stamina, in what’s likely to be heavy ground, will be the order of the day.

Did you know, fifteen of the last sixteen Peter Marsh Chase winners were aged eight or older, had run in the last six weeks and carried 11st 3lbs in weight?

As always, we’ll be highlighting our TOP FOUR trends to look for from the ITV Racing and putting them in a big-priced ‘Cracker Acca’ – plus, giving you the ‘best of the rest’ trends from around the other tracks this Saturday.

Plus – don’t forget, you can also get more help finding the winner for all this Saturday’s races on our Free Horse Racing Tips page.

TV Stats ‘250/1 Cracker Acca’

(Pays £1,250 for a £5 stake)

1.50 Ascot: Last year’s Aintree Grand National runner-up – MAGIC OF LIGHT – is back in action this weekend and returns in a race she actually won last year. She landed this prize by 3 ¼ lengths last term and is expected to make another bold bid after showing she’s as good as ever last month when winning by ninety-nine lengths at Newbury. Yes, put a flake in it – ninety-nine lengths!

2.05 Haydock: Some promising novice hurdlers on show here, but with a 50% record with their hurdlers at the track (two-from-four), the Jamie Snowden-trained THEBANNERKINGREBEL is the call. This seven-year-old has won three of his four starts over hurdles and would probably be unbeaten had he not fallen late on at Wetherby two runs back. Having won at the track before is a plus and he’s also got winning form on heavy ground. Owned by Arsenal chairman – Chips Keswick – he’ll be hoping to hit the back of the net again here.

2.40 Haydock: Trainer Sue Smith and jockey Danny Cook have teamed-up to win the Peter Marsh Chase twice in the last four years and go again here with VINTAGE CLOUDS. This proven course and distance winner looks to be coming to the boil after a fair third at the track last time out to the improving Lord Du Mesnil. However, with the 156-rated Definitly Red running and keeping the weights down, this means the Sue Smith runner gets in with fifteen pounds less on his back than last time, which will be a big help in the likely testing conditions.

3.35 Ascot: The Matchbook Clarence House Chase looks set to be a fascinating match-up between Defi Du Seuil and the three-time winner of this race – UN DE SCEAUX – with the latter getting the nod. The pair were separated by just a neck in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown last month, but with Un De Sceaux running there off a seven month break we can expect him to have improved for it. He’s also ‘two-from-two’ here at Ascot, while his form in soft and heavy ground is outstanding. He’s taken to make Defi Du Seuil pull out all the stops again, but with proven winning form in this race, the Mullins runner looks the better value of the two.

(Pays £1,250 for a £5 stake)