Timeform Daily View

Timeform Daily View | Saturday preview and tips

By Nic Doggett

Horse Racing

Sat March 01, 2025 · 1M ago

Nic Doggett provides an overview of the key things to note on Saturday.

Money, money, money

The Imperial Cup at Sandown used to be the big handicap hurdle to take note of in the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival, especially when the carrot of a bonus for winning that race and at Cheltenham was dangled.

However, these days it is the bet365 Morebattle Hurdle (3.30) up at Kelso that dominates, with an increased race prize fund allied to a similar bonus attracting an 18-strong field for Saturday’s renewal.

Timeform ‘Horse In Focus’ Favour And Fortune plundered a big prize in Scotland when winning the Scottish Champion Hurdle last spring and might be able to do so again on the back of a good fourth in a similarly hot race at Newbury last month; his handicap mark remains unchanged.

Alan King's strong traveller should prove suited by the return to likely less testing conditions and a strong gallop (a rare Timeform pace prediction of ‘extreme’), and is preferred to sole Irish-raider Vischio, whose trainer Emmet Mullins won this with The Shunter in 2021.

Vischio is 22 lb higher than when winning at Punchestown in November, but the way she won at Leopardstown last month suggests that this mark might not be beyond her; only the bravest would be dogmatic given the capabilities of her trainer. Meanwhile, her regular jockey Danny Mullins is having his first ride at Kelso.

Alnilam, Petrol Head and Tellherthename are just a few other interesting contenders in a fine renewal, though the likes of Milldam – who is ridden by in-form jockey Ben Jones for the first time with Gavin Sheehan at Doncaster – and Rock House may have preferred less Spring-like weather than the Borders venue has enjoyed this week.

https://m.skybet.com/horse-racing/kelso/handicap-hurdle-class-2-2m-51y/35168019?aff=681&dcmp=SL_RACING

Hot Jockeys

Much of the talk this week has been around Ben Jones, the young Welsh jockey who at one point had a strike-rate of 12 wins from 15 rides; it’s no wonder that he has the ‘Jockey Uplift’ flag on the aforementioned Milldam.

Jones has only had one ride at Kelso before – finishing out of the frame – but looks to have a good book of rides yet again on Saturday. He is no stranger to big ITV winners, and currently sits in eighth place in the inaugural David Power Jockeys’ Cup standings, 16 points behind Charlie Deutsch in seventh.

Using Timeform’s jockeys’ statistics page and dashboard, we can see that Jones is having the best season in terms of both winners (65) and strike-rate (18%, 55% Run To Form) over the last five campaigns.

His riding style graphic also shows that the rider is outperforming the average when riding horses prominently – a style that we often associate with horses trained by Ben Pauling.

The aforementioned Gavin Sheehan is another rider having a fine campaign – sixth in the Jockeys’ Cup – and his jockey’s dashboard shows that he has excelled both on front-runners and hold-up horses.

Amongst his rides at Doncaster on Saturday, he is reunited with Some Scope in the Grimthorpe Chase, who has produced his best performances when ridden quietly. Now stepped back up in trip with Sheehan back on board, expect an improved effort (second in the race last year).

More to come from Mulholland ace?

It’s a tremendous afternoon of jumps racing – most notably a load of competitive handicaps to get stuck into – and over at Newbury the 2.30 contest features one of the most in-form horses in the country.

Having completed a hurdles hat-trick back in the spring, Jasmin De Grugy has continued on his steep upward trajectory over fences this winter, the Neil Mulholland-trained gelding supplementing his reappearance Southwell success in similarly good style over C&D 45 days ago.

Appealing as the type to do better still, he could be up to completing the six-timer despite being a whopping 46 lb higher than for his first win, and it looks significant that he is still a Timeform ‘Horse In Focus’ despite that extended winning run.

“... will remain of plenty of interest and has certainly earnt a shot at something more valuable” was the closing line of the Timeform reporter’s assessment of the horse’s C&D win in January. Saturday’s race isn’t particularly valuable but it is a jump up in grade (0-130 having won a 0-120 last time) and the slower ground is something of a question mark given his winning streak has come under quicker conditions.

The opposition looks better, too, as you’d expect, with both Law Of Supply and Superbolt representing ‘Hot Trainer’ yards and coming into this race on the back of good efforts in defeat when chasing hat-tricks.

Similarly, Rivers Corner represents an in-form yard and blinkers could help focus his finishing effort, while Venetia Williams won this race with a seven-year-old in 2022 and this year's representative Zertakt has a similar profile.

There may only be five runners, but it looks one of the toughest puzzles to solve on a day where punters will need their wits about them!