Our star daily duo of Rory Delargy and David Massey are back with a look ahead to today's racing.
Racing betting tips: Tuesday April 1
1pt win My Dream in the 2.10 Fakenham at 25/1 (Bet365) – min 22/1
1pt win Ideal des Bordes in the 3.55 Kempton at 9/4 (General) – no lower
1pt win Hidalgo de L’Isle in the 4.30 Kempton at 10/1 (Bet365) – min 8/1
3:55 Kempton – Class 3 (0-135) Handicap Chase 3m
Sparse fields again on Tuesday, so time for a bit of a rant on a favourite subject. There was no official reason given for the poor run of IDEAL DES BORDES at Kempton last time, with the stewards happy to note that “Nicky Henderson reported the gelding stopped quickly on this occasion”. It was a similar story when the horse pulled up when also favourite at Exeter last season, except it was James Bowen who reported the horse had stopped quickly, a fact that both the stewards and those watching the race already knew.
If the stewards are going to inquire into why favourites have performed badly then they can’t simply consider the job done if told a horse stopped quickly. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d be inclined to go in with a secondary question here, like “why do you think that was?” I realise the answer in most cases will be “I haven’t a clue”, but it would be nice to see a bit of an effort made.
Luckily, we have the benefit of knowing when horses have had wind surgery, as that helps to explain why Ideal des Bordes went from Hillman Imp at Exeter to Porsche 911 at Kempton a year ago, and why he might be similarly transformed by another tweak to his wind since disappointing here in February. His previous effort, when splitting Eyed and Sea Invasion over C&D, has worked out well enough, with that pair finishing second in competitive handicaps on their next starts, the former from a 5lb higher mark, and the latter behind a subsequent winner.
The gelding, who races in the familiar colours of Bridget Hanbury and is owned by Hanbury and daughter Arabella Mackenzie Smith, has the prospect of an easy lead with no confirmed front-runner in the race and jockey Nico de Boinville is unlikely to mess around at a track that favours positive tactics over fences.
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4:30 Kempton – Class 4 (0-120) Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle 2m
A few of these arrive out of form and the impression is that this handicap won’t take a lot of winning, so it’s very interesting to see Donald McCain make the long journey to Kempton with one runner in the shape of HIDALGO DE L’ISLE.
Hidalgo de Lisle reverts to hurdles having had a mixed time of it over fences this season, winning at Newton Abbot in August but failing to progress with his jumping increasingly looking a weakness. He remains very fairly handicapped on his hurdles form, however, and was beaten only half a length off a higher mark at Worcester in the summer. Charlie Maggs was successful on a similar type in the shape of Geromino last season, taking over from Brian Hughes on a horse who was also switching from fences to hurdles, and Hidalgo de Lisle has the requisite class to concede weight to his rivals and he’s the only one in the field to have won a Class 4 handicap hurdle at this trip, his full record in the grade reading 15123, improving to 1123 on good ground.
2:10 Fakenham – Class 5 (0-95) Mares’ Novices’ Handicap Hurdle 2m 7f 95y
[Assumes voice of David Massey] Summerleaze is the only one of the six with recent winning form, but that Stratford win last time has taken more than a few knocks, the second, third and fourth all well beaten on their subsequent starts. There may well be more improvement to come, but at 2/5 this morning, I’d have wanted a slightly more solid form line than that.
In such a desperately weak event, you’d not rule out improvement from either of the handicaps debutants but I’m going to give MY DREAM one more chance. She travelled fine at Southwell until a bad mistake three out caused her to stop in strides and she’d been pulled up by the time she reached two out. Some of her previous form reads well enough in the context of this race and there ought to be some improvement to come, particularly as she is bred to want this longer trip.
Published at 1000 BST on 01/04/25
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