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Saturday racing preview: Chris Day best bets for Sandown
Chris Day looks ahead to the weekend's action and picks out the best bets at the prices from the five-day declarations.
Racing betting tips: Saturday March 11
1pt win Crambo in 1.50 Sandown at 10/1 (Betway)
1pt win In This World in 2.25 Sandown at 20/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair)
1pt win Cap Du Mathan in 3.35 Sandown at 12/1 (General)
Saturday’s Betfair Imperial Cup has traditionally favoured unexposed types who do seem to come into their own at this time of year now they’ve been able to get some experience under their belts.
The old method of finding the winner was to look for the Martin/David Pipe-trained runner who’d been laid out for this and the County Hurdle bonus but that angle no longer exists and I don’t think there’s been a more competitive race of its type all season.
Givega, who won in style here last month, has been well found in the market and looks just the type to win a nice pot this spring for the shrewdest of them all, Gary Moore.
In conceding 9lb to an odds-on shot trained by Nicky Henderson, he probably earned his rating of 133 and bounded up the run in in the style of a horse who will relish Saturday’s test.
Moore immediately said he thought this was the race for him and, as a future staying chaser, he should be able to call on those stamina reserves when the heat is turned on late on.
He’s hard not to like but this is wide open and it’s a long time since the favourite was successful in this.
Last year’s winning trainer, Peter Fahey, has Zoffany Bay in here, a horse who nearly won a big prize at Ascot last month on his return from a lay-off, but the bounce factor could be a reason to oppose him for now as that stable debut came on the back of a 700-day absence and his best French form did seem to indicate a requirement for softer ground although the weather forecast is indicating some rain.
Keep him in mind for something at Fairyhouse or Punchestown in the spring.
The usual big trainers, Nicholls and Skelton, have plenty of entries, all of which hold plausible chances and have won this in recent seasons but there’s very little between their chances and current odds.
Five year olds have done well here and, for that reason and his current price of 20/1, Skelton’s IN THIS WORLD is the recommendation.
He was immediately installed Triumph Hurdle favourite on the back of a visually impressive victory at Warwick last Autumn and had beaten the now 147-rated Fils D’Or over 14 furlongs on his only other racecourse appearance in France.
Skelton appeared to think he was Graded material on his early season stable tours and it’s hard to think he won’t be fit here on the back of a lay off caused through an injury sustained at Warwick.
He doesn’t appear to have a BHA mark yet but that will be almost immaterial if he’s as good as they think and, with Harry Skelton already jocked up on Playful Saint, it wouldn’t be the first time Bridget Andrews has provided the winner of a big handicap on the stable’s lesser fancied horse.
Interestingly he’s the only one of the three Skelton entries not to have a County Hurdle entry next week, suggesting he’ll be given time after this run and he really does fall into the could be anything category.
Later, in the Betfair Daily Multiples Offer At Cheltenham Novices’ Handicap Chase, Easy As That looks to be a horse on a steep upward curve for Venetia Williams and should be hard to beat but the Nicholls trained CAP DU MATHAN was chalked up shorter than his stablemate Pic D’Orhy, who won the Grade 2 Pendil at Kempton last month and looks the value here at 12/1 now he’s started to put it together over fences.
Granted his form has been in small field West Country novice chases and he was beaten off this mark recently but he was conceding a stone to the winner there and could benefit from a less aggressive ride here and the stable have plenty to choose from in a race of this nature.
Finally, the EBF Betfair National Novices’ Hurdle Final is another cracking handicap once again full of young, improving horses.
This really is wide open but the one I’ve liked for this for a while is the Fergal O’Brien trained CRAMBO, who has looked very smart in victories either side of being pulled up on heavy ground in Newbury’s Grade One Challow Hurdle behind current Ballymore favourite, Hermes Allen.
This is a stable very much on the up and Crambo looks like he has the potential to take them to the top and may well be the star they’ve been looking for so he’s worth a dart at 10/1.
Preview posted at 1215 GMT on 07/03/2023
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