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Tips for Ascot: Best value bets on Saturday December 23

And you have to be imaginative to see the horses lower down the lists beating the ones at the top. In that spirit, I’ll take the Brits to beat the Irish, primarily through Jpr One and Master Chewy. A maximum field of 24 horses are set to compete in this year’s renewal.

Saturday 27th July’s Racecards for UK & Ireland

Racing against the far rail from a draw in stall one, David Egan got bumped and bored when attempting to get through on the run to the final furlong, just as Raasel swept to the front down the outside. A neck separated the pair at the winning post, with Existent back in fourth and Equilateral, who also had a hard-luck story to tell, fnishing sixth. Roger Varian’s sprinter was unlucky not to take the spoils at Sandown, enduring a troubled passaged over the minimum trip. Raasel was in front that day but the selection has a fine chance of turning the tables. I’ve been quietly backing Tiger Roll all winter to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase.

Nicky Henderson on his fifth Champion Chase win

Previous experience of this tricky cross country course is always invaluable and there is no shortage of proven performers in this tight field. Perhaps the most progressive is BLESS THE WINGS and he is a tentative choice. Cause of Causes, Cantlow and Josies Orders all have similar sorts of claims. The Last Samuri, a smart horse at Aintree, is interesting. He passed him in the air at the last and then sprinted up the hill as he has done here now three years in succession, in the Supreme, then the Arkle and now the Champion Chase, a deja-deja-vu.

• They actually don’t run many – just three darts this year – and I’ll be fielding against them, perhaps carelessly.
• A horse with a string of 1s by their name is likely to be a lot shorter in the betting than one with 0s, for example.
• Again, we’re looking towards the extremes here, though, having said that, with the continued shrinkage of field sizes comes a problem for those one-paced galloping types.
• A story that began in 1924, the Gold Cup has since mushroomed to become one of the world’s most renowned steeplechases.
• The pair have formed a formidable team this season and should be thereabouts.
• There’s a leap of faith required with this chap that there isn’t with some of the Irish Grade 1 horses but that’s reflected in their respective odds.
• Davy Russell will return to the saddle “in a fortnight or so” after spending 11 months on the sidelines with injuries to his neck and back.
• Quite often you call these horses something that they’re not, because you want them to be the best horse you’ve trained – and quite often you are disappointed.

Mark Lawrenson

AND of course this type of favourite can be confidently predicted before the off. Just back the one that’s been given three quiet runs and a mark that’s well below what it’s really capable of. The two I like most are Libberty Hunter and Hardy du Seuil with the former looking really solid in the conditions. He would be unbeaten over fences but for overjumping on debut at Chepstow and has added wins at Wincanton and on the New Course here, beating Arkle hope Matata by a length in a 2m handicap in December. Those wins have come on heavy and soft ground and he coped well with the jumping test when scoring last time. A better question might be to ask which horses can put him under pressure, so let’s posit that one.

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If you don’t believe me, I’ve copied the in-running comments from his six races over fences below. He’s won them all, but that might be something to keep in mind if you’re tempted to pile in at cramped odds. Fell at 9/2 in 2018, when Min was only second as a 5/2 shot, and – worse – 7th in 2017 as a 2/9 chance.

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However, having said that, taking the overall data into account, one could do worse than focusing attention on this price band. LH – Galopin Des Champs is a very likely winner but, at bigger prices, Ahoy Senor could have a perfect setup in this test. Although Bravemansgame may prefer flatter tracks, he has the strongest form in the race this season. Strongly against A Plus Tard’s profile coming into the race. Even at his best, which we’ve not seen for a year, GdC would beat him anyway.

Value Bet tips: Saturday, December 23

If they aren’t currently available, please check back later; they are generally available around 16 hours before the meeting starts. These individuals or organisations have extensive knowledge and experience in horse racing and share their insights and predictions with the public. Making prudent decisions based on a combination of research, intuition, and rational thinking is pivotal in navigating the unpredictable nature of horse racing.

Years of Gold Cup Glory

• These seasoned experts analyse horse form, course record, jockeys and trainer form, and offer a well-rounded view of the race.
• Even allowing for the further progression that leap implies, he still has something like a stone to find with Ballyburn.
• The action you just performed triggered the security solution.
• I’m not keen on backing Appreciate It at around 6/4 in the ‘without’ market either, nor the untested in Grade 1 or on fast ground Teahupoo, or any of his five-year-old contemporaries.
• Noel Meade has an infamous record at the Festival and, while he’s 0 from 13 in this section of races, his Road To Riches was third in both the 2015 Gold Cup and the 2016 Ryanair Chase.

Racing against hardened, more experienced chasers he battled all the way to the line to get within 3 1/2 lengths of the Grade 1-winning Mullins chaser Capodanno and last year’s Brown Advisory winner The Real Whacker. Back down to novice company he should go well but wearing headgear is a big no no in the Brown Advisory and I don’t like that Nicholls is reaching for the first time cheekpieces here. An Ayr maiden winner from six attempts as a juvenile, the Roger Varian-trained son of Profitable has taken a step forward on each of his four starts this season.

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We have already noted some positives connected with Irish runners or those that raced in Ireland last time. It goes without saying that the vast majority of horses racing at Cheltenham that raced in Ireland last time out would have been from Irish stables; in fact 97% of them were. LTO winners outside Graded and Listed company have by far the poorest strike rate as you would expect. They have incurred losses of £116.97 (ROI -8.3%) over the period of study. LTO winners outside Graded and Listed company have not surprisingly struggled even more when the race at Cheltenham is a Graded one – in these races their record reads 50 wins from 957 (SR 5.2%) for a loss of £149.46 (ROI -15.6%).

Irish runners versus UK runners

It probably makes sense to compare a longer period pre-Cheltenham with a shorter period pre-Cheltenham with performance at the Festival itself. Percentage of Rivals Beaten (PRB) is a means of applying a sliding scale of merit to every finishing position, and doing it in relation to the field size in which that finish was achieved. For instance, 2nd of four has less merit on this metric than 2nd of 40 – and rightly so, of course. Sizing John in 2017 was trying a longer trip and was ridden accordingly, with patience.

LH – Can’t make a strong case for Honeysuckle, but can see why she’s stepped up to Mares’ Hurdle distance. Epatante appears to be regressing more slowly than Honeysuckle and “mullered” some lesser horses at Doncaster last time. Interested in Love Envoi and Maries Rock if she shows here, but not Echoes In Rain. Best form seems to be on soft, could be a place lay on a sounder surface. At longer prices, Diverge and Doctor Bravo are mildly interesting in what looks a very open and potentially substandard renewal.

They both take place year-round but generally speaking the best jump racing is in winter and the best Flat action is in summer. With a longer-term record dating back to January 2021 of a similar level, he is undoubtedly a true expert to listen to when looking for value bets for each day’s racing. Northern Ticker ran a clear career best last time and is on the upgrade. Invictus Gold beat nothing at Newmarket but could not have done it any easier.

What is worth noting, however, is that 11 of the last 14 winners had raced fewer than ten times over fences and interestingly nine of the last 12 winners had worn some king of headgear (cheekpieces, hood or blinkers). Five of the last 13 winners had run in the Ultima Handicap the previous year. Willie Mullins naturally saddles a phalanx of blue bloods, and his first choice normally wins. Indeed, going back to Ebazayin, a 40/1 scorer for Mullins in 2007, that was his only – and therefore first choice – entry.

Before being sidelined last autumn, he was in the saddle when Envoi Allen stretched his unbeaten record to nine races in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle. Russell was forced to miss the bulk of the latest National Hunt season – including the spring festivals at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown – and also sat out last month’s Galway Festival. Formerly trained on the Flat by David Menuisier, the grey made a successful debut over hurdles at Punchestown last month and was among the leading contenders on his return to the level. For De Sousa it was confirmation of a return to the very top in Britain, after his spell in Hong Kong ended prematurely following a 10-month suspension imposed for breaching betting rules. GOD’S OWN Has some solid form in his record but is a light of former days and hard to fancy.

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Gaillard du Mesnil is opposable at the prices in the NH Chase. Don’t think that race’s profile suits such a strong stayer any more. Churchstonewarrior could be a playable alternative – going slower could suit him. Mahler Mission ran a fair race (7th of 16) in last year’s Albert Bartlett and, though he was whacked in a novices’ chase at Cheltenham early in the season, that was surely a sighter on ground much faster than ideal. More recently he’s won a beginners’ and then ran a gallant second to Churchstonewarrior. The second possible in that context is I Like To Move It, whose Greatwood and Kingwell Hurdle wins have advertised his ‘dark horse’ claims.

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Things could be teed up once more for LARRY, who nearly always saves his best for Ascot and has won a couple of times coming from off the pace over this course and distance in the past. He was pulled-up by Fergus Gillard on that occasion but he’s such an in-and-out sort that you’re going to have to overlook the odd one of those before the case for him winning becomes that bit clearer. She won this race 12 months ago and is back from a 3lb higher mark with every chance again. Racing Post Members’ ClubRacing Post Members’ Club is the ultimate community for racing fans and punters, providing award-winning journalism, expert insight, comment and opinion, and tools designed to give you an edge. Few sports are as easy to watch as racing and nobody need ever miss any of the many thousand races run each year.

Cheltenham Festival Trainer Form Conclusions

Strike rates are below what is the 14/1+ norm for all National Hunt races and losses have been significant. Indeed, Irish runners have outperformed UK runners in terms of win strike rate in the last ten festivals starting from 2013 as the graph below neatly illustrates. These figures Bolts Up Daily are skewed inasmuch as the last five years have seen a big increase in the number of Irish horses travelling across. However, the win strike rate for Irish runners in the five years from 2008 to 2012 was 6.8%, whereas in the past five years (2018 to 2022) it has been 9.7%.

Then we head to Wales for the two meetings on Tuesday with good prize money on offer at Bangor and further south for Chepstow. Decent jumping ground at both with course alterations affecting the official distances. Horse race gambling is the cornerstone of the sports betting world, and has been for the best part of a century.

Winners of one or two races on heavy are 1.4 times more likely to win than heavy maidens; and winners of three heavy ground races previously are more than 1.5 times more likely to prevail than maidens on that extreme of going. This horse is having its second run after a wind op and its first wearing a tongue tie. Both of those might be expected to eke out a little improvement; and look at the contextual snippets block – accessed by clicking the trainer icon (with the red box around it). There we see Fry’s two year record with handicap debutants at any track, which is fairly unexciting, but note above it his record when moving a horse notably in distance. A perfect example of a terrible race in need of a winner, with a single horse moderately favoured by conditions and within a few pounds (see right hand columns) of its last winning mark.

Whilst there are no genuine shortcuts outside of getting someone else’s opinion (for better or worse), there are facilitators and differentiators. Boasting the unusual accolade of being the only UK racecourse not to have a grandstand, Bangor-On-Dee stands alone amongst the wider racecourse population. North Wales’ solitary racecourse, racing has taken place on the banks of the Dee for 160 years. Nube Negra was possibly the unlucky loser story of the race, meeting traffic whilst gaining lengths over the final half a furlong.

It’s worth recalling that she was a Grade 1 winner over hurdles at Aintree last April, and it’s typical of Lucinda Russell’s horses to only show their very best form in the spring. O’Connor rides Corbett’s Cross, who was a big talking horse before running out here last year, and he was brought down in his prep race for this when the rider was given his traditional ‘feeler’ at Fairyhouse. He has a chance, for sure, but is of no great interest at around 2/1 given his imperfect preparation.

• We cover what to look out for when considering free tips, including accuracy, consistency and the track record of tipsters.
• His form is in another postcode to his rivals in a market still trying to get him beaten with the wonderful but past his best Altior and a sizeable group of second division chasers.
• February is upon us and, with it, the focus on the Cheltenham Festival becomes more intense.
• At longer prices, Diverge and Doctor Bravo are mildly interesting in what looks a very open and potentially substandard renewal.
• Just ask those that swear by each of the above, and the countless many other race betting systems out there.
• Protektorat has been Pricewise’d in the last couple of days, that value vacuum cleaner meaning he’s a rum price for us Johnny Come Lately’s, but he’s not really one I’m yet persuaded by anyway.
• Use the “Commission” box to see the effect this will have on profits.

Gordon also has Braeside, whose two career wins have come on heavy ground, as Profiler handily highlights. He’s slow enough for the old four-miler but probably not quick enough for this classier, shorter iteration of the race. This is a really tricky race with if’s and but’s about most of them. In the absence of a reliable option, I’ll take a chance on Heaven Help Us being trained for the day in what seem to be her favoured conditions.

If you’re John Butler or Mick Appleby – with the greatest respect to those genuinely fine exponents of their craft – you don’t have the luxury of a conveyor belt of million-pound yearlings lolloping into your barn annually. He has progressed all season, and even though he may have put in his poorest performance so far, he clearly has the profile to continue stepping up in distance on route to a very promising chasing career. He has a huge career ahead of him and the question now is, does he go chasing, or does he remain over hurdles with a route towards the 2022 Champion hurdle.

In other words, this is a completely different race from the one which carried the same name 15 years ago. Back then, journeyman Corinthians on massive-priced pigs in a poke in huge fields played a version of ‘last man or woman standing’. Now, field sizes are smaller, the quality of bipeds and quadrupeds alike is higher, and it is consequently a far more predictable affair.

That was a maiden hurdle which he won by 19 lengths, beating little of consequence. He looks to have a good bit to find, though it’s possible that he will locate at least some of the form deficit with Ballyburn for his ultra-shrewd owner, Tony Bloom (pictured above). Once you’ve made your selection, click the odds button in line with your horse and a window will appear showing the best bookmakers in the industry to provide you with a choice of where to back it.

• Native River beat Might Bite for a British 1-2 in 2018, but prior to that it was Irish eyes smiling in both 2017 and 2016, where Team Green bagged the first four places home.
• Although it’s only a small chink in his profile it does give us some hope that we can get one of these Mullins hotpots beaten.
• The jockey – trainer’s son – is a slight concern, too, as he won’t be able to claim his usual five pounds.
• Like all humans, trainers are creatures of habit, so get to know theirs.
• Also, for readers with little time to study form, I am confident there are plenty of systems around that are less likely to produce a profit at the Festival than this one.
• It is also true that RP has been dishing up in deep ground and it remains to be seen how he handles quicker terrain.

Mistakes with his fencing likely contributed to him dropping out of contention from before three out, and he was well beaten when unshipping Paul Townend at the last. If you liked Ballyburn for this, his representative is the Henry de Bromhead-trained Slade Steel, who was third and second to the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle favourite in a bumper and a Grade 1 novice hurdle respectively. Henry is perhaps the best target trainer of all in recent Festivals, his hit rate at the last five being a scarcely believable one in seven. Foxy Jacks has run cross country here three times and failed to get round twice, though he did win on the other occasion! That was in the November handicap last year in which the heavyweights Delta Work and Galvin both went missing, presumed not off.

Skybet are actually offering prices on winning margins of 2+ lengths (10/11), 4+ lengths (2/1), 6+ lengths (10/3), 8+ lengths (5/1) and 10+ lengths (7/1). February is upon us and, with it, the focus on the Cheltenham Festival becomes more intense. Regardless of the debate about the middle March showpiece overpowering the National Hunt calendar’s narrative, there is no denying it offers a rich range of options from an ante post perspective.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 13 winners from a total of 195 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 12 runners. On trainer changes, it is obvious that not all trainers are equally talented and, especially, not all trainers are equally good at finding the key to a horse in their care. A change of scenery is sometimes enough, but often it is a change of regime or some personal attention – maybe a weekly back massage or whatever – that can aid a horse’s progression. Under the conditions of the race, we can see that ‘Led’ (green blob) types have fared best.

The overall figures now stand at 8/467 (1.71% SR, A/E 0.58) since 2008. Ignoring the Albert Bartlett, horses priced 16/1+ in novice Grade 1’s are now 3/327 (0.92% SR, -251 at SP) since 2008. Even allowing a little latitude in the ‘potato race’, the four rags came from a total population of 336 horses sent off greater than 16/1. All of the above verbosity is by way of suggesting that Shishkin will probably win assuming he turns up in one piece (never a given). But a top priced 8/11, whilst still very far from offensive in value terms, is unexciting for those of us with limited elevens to risk in the pursuit of eights.

It has been the obvious race for him since last year and we’ve just had to creep there. The owners have been very good and said if that is what you want to do then go for it. “Luke got it right and there was enough room for him to keep pushing and get where we wanted. It was one of those races where I can’t remember one going so well since Alborada got the pacemaker and High-Rise didn’t (in the 1999 Champion Stakes). “I was very concerned about the draw, I had a thoroughly bad day when I found out his position.