Timeform TV Focus: ITV racing tips on Saturday

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Haydock

1.15 2 pts – 5 Beat The Bat

There are plenty of in-form hurdlers in this – Steel Ally, Kamsinas and Josh The Boss all recorded career-best efforts last time out – but if there’s one horse in the field that’s got the potential to be some way ahead of its mark it’s surely Beat The Bat. He showed progressive form in a light first campaign over hurdles, putting up his best effort when understandably failing to give Dysart Enos 7 lb in a novice at Cheltenham in mid-December, but he did pull well clear of the rest that day and the time backed up the form performance. He wasn’t seen out again but lack of fitness is very rarely an issue with horses from the Fry yard and Beat The Bat has the qualities to suggest handicaps can bring out further improvement in him – he’s a strong-travelling type who should have no problem getting settled in a race that could well be run at an end-to-end gallop considering how many of the fifteen runners are habitual pace-forcers.

1.50 1 pt – 6 Hillcrest

Market leaders have generally got the job done in this race in recent years and there’s no getting away from the fact that Iroko is the likeliest winner. His first season over fences wasn’t without angst, yet he managed to reach a smart level of form in next to no time and is one of the best young British-trained chasing prospects around. The only reason we’re deserting him in this is his price first time back. Admittedly, he’s up against opposition that also doesn’t have the benefit of a recent run, but the chances are that both Trelawne and Tahmuras will be very close to being at concert pitch, whilst Deafening Silence hails from a yard whose novice chasers almost always deserve consideration. It’s Hillcrest that appeals as a boom or bust selection, however, returning from almost 1,000 days off the track through injury and with his tenth birthday just around the corner. Such a long time off the course is obviously a big concern, but Hillcrest was so promising in his first season over hurdles that we’re prepared to give him a chance on chasing debut at such long odds. Henry Daly’s team couldn’t be in much better nick at the minute and, with time running out, it hardly seems likely that they’d leave him woefully short of peak fitness.

2.30 1 pt – 15 One Big Bang

This column was reluctant to take on Doyen Quest at Cheltenham last Saturday and proved correct, but seven days on it’s a different matter. This is a deeper race, he’s got a 5-lb penalty to carry and likely more testing conditions to contend with, too. The question is what to take him on with. The options are plentiful in truth, as they should be for a race of this value. The unexposed Kerryhill is a lovely prospect and it’s hard to believe he’s shown all he can after just three starts, the bottom-weight Patriotik shaped encouragingly in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow on his return and will likely relish this step up to 3m but does hail from a yard currently light on winners, Push The Button is another who promises to relish this first try at a longer trip, whilst the improving Catch Him Derry takes on much stronger company but could still be some way ahead of his mark. It’s a tough puzzle to solve alright, but One Big Bang should give us a good run for our money. James Owen is undoubtedly the hottest new trainer around at the moment and One Big Bang is much improved since joining the yard, having plenty in hand when winning his first two starts then losing nothing at all on his return from a break when failing to concede 10 lb to Hymac at Newton Abbot last month. He’s a strong stayer at the trip so will benefit from the forecast rain and is likely to be ridden prominently by a promising Irish conditional.

3.05 1 pt – 5 Grey Dawning

The largest field for the Betfair Chase since Silviniaco Conti accounted for Menorah and seven others a decade ago and, like that renewal, this has a much more open look to it than most of those races in the intervening years. It makes sense that Grey Dawning is favourite, most of his rivals having a question mark of one sort or another over their chance and Grey Dawning himself still not fully exposed at staying trips, hard to forget just how strong he was at the finish of a ferociously-run Grade 2 novice at Warwick last winter yet still possessing the speed to win the Turners a couple of months later. There is a slight niggle as to whether he’ll be absolutely wound up for this return, running out of steam on his chasing debut/reappearance last season and turned over at short odds on his hurdling debut after an absence the season before that, but at the same time Dan Skelton has made no secret of the fact that he’d love to be Champion Trainer and it seems unlikely he’d willingly pass up the chance to bag this £116,000 first prize. There’s been a feeling for several years that, bar Galopin des Champs, the rest of the leading staying chasers are much of a muchness and, with his price having eased a little on Friday, Grey Dawning is worth backing to take another successful step up the ladder.

3.40 1 pt – 7 Hititi

If the forecast proves correct conditions could be appreciably more testing by this stage of the afternoon, therefore it’s understandable that Take Your Time is prominent in the market, successful on all three completed starts last season, highly effective in the mud and twice successful in handicaps on the back of a break. His general price on Friday morning probably sums up his chance, however, whereas Hititi is at longer odds than might have been expected. He continued to progress in handicap hurdles last season despite not managing to get his head in front and returned to chasing at Chepstow last month from an appreciably lower mark, jumping solidly and finding only Nocte Volatus too good in a well-contested 14-runner handicap. That was over 2½m, but Hititi’s hurdling record suggests he’ll be just as effective back at this longer trip and his record in the mud is hard to knock, too. The booking of Brian Hughes is an eye-catching one and, all things considered, we’re surprised Hititi isn’t more around the 5/1 mark.

Ascot

1.30 No Bet Advised

There isn’t really a compelling reason for looking beyond Pic d’Orhy in this, as his ability to go well fresh, his record at Ascot, and indeed the likelihood he’ll be able to boss things – he’ll surely have too much zip for Dashel Drasher, who’s rising 12 and usually runs in three-mile hurdles nowadays – should all mean he takes plenty of beating. Le Patron is probably the most compelling alternative, as the only one of the rest with any scope for improvement, but the wheels did fall off a little towards the end of last season and overall this is an easy one to sit out.

2.45 1 pt – 4 Lucky Place

The Ascot Hurdle is more competitive than can sometimes be the case, but it does have a trappy look to it with five of the six reappearing and obvious potential for a muddling race. Golden Ace was flawless in a first season over hurdles that yielded a Festival win, but she does have more on her plate back against males and it’s not hard to look elsewhere at the prices. Blueking d’Oroux, Salver, and Lucky Place are the potential improvers among the rest, and it’s worth chancing the last-named as he embarks on his second season. He only managed one win in the first one, but he ran well every time he made the track, including when one of the only Henderson-trained horses to perform with much credit at the Festival in the Coral Cup. He’s 10 lb better off with Golden Ace than when beating three quarters of a length by that rival when they met in a Taunton novice last January, and it’s interesting that Nicky Henderson is pitching him straight into a Grade 2 first time back rather than exploiting his mark in a valuable handicap.

3.20 1 pt – 1 Sans Bruit

The interesting horses have found their way to the top of the betting for this handicap and, at the prices, Sans Bruit makes a bit more appeal than either last-time-out C&D winner Martator and French raider Marvel de Cerisy. Sans Bruit took a few runs to get up to speed upon joining Paul Nicholls last season, but he was really impressive when making all in the Red Rum at Aintree in April, and his comeback third in a well-contested Haldon Gold Cup was encouraging. He’ll be sharper for that, and reverts to a more conventional handicap on a good mark and open to more improvement, with a good chance he can dominate a race otherwise short of front runners under Harry Cobden, who takes the ride for just the second time.

Punchestown

2.10 No Bet Advised

Eight runners make for the biggest field for the Morgiana in more than two decades, but there are more than a few very optimistic contenders among them and the Champion Hurdler State Man promises to take all the beating bidding to win the race for the third year running. Admittedly, Lossiemouth is a more formidable opponent than plenty he’s met over the last couple of season, but on form she’s a fair way behind a stable-companion who’s proved himself routinely capable of turning out top-class performances.

You can access the TV Focus selections and rationale at 5pm the evening before racing for £7.50 on the Timeform website.

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