'REAL' racing returns to Musselburgh on Friday and record prize money of £440,000 will be on offer at the nine jumps meetings set to be staged at the East Lothian course this season.
Highlight of the upcoming National Hunt campaign will be John Smith's Cheltenham Trials Day on 1 February when a near six-figure purse is waiting to be won. It was on the same card a couple of years back, Dear Villez, who is one of the leading fan
cies for Saturday's Hennessy Gold Cup, made history when he became the first runner at the track for champion trainer Paul Nicholls.
The gelding has enjoyed plenty success since, his latest coming in Limerick's Munster National last month, and Nicholls is expecting another bold show from him this weekend. "He will love the ground and is a course winner," said the Somerset handler, who is also set to run ante-post market leader Big Buck's in the £175,000 event which was won 12 months ago by Denman. The Cheltenham Gold Cup champion will be an absentee at Newbury after recently being treated for an irregular heartbeat.
With definite running plans yet to be made for several of the 21 entries, the final line-up for the big race is still a bit up in the air, but, like Nicholls, Philip Hobbs could be double-handed courtesy of Monkerhostin and Parson's Legacy. Hobbs, who landed the Hennessy in 2001 with What's Up Boys, will sit tight and wait and see what the weather brings before making his mind up. "Monkerhostin is a likely runner at this stage and we'll see what the ground is like before making a decision on Parsons Legacy," he said. "Hopefully it will stay dry and they would both have an each-way chance if they do go."
The betting for the three and a quarter mile contest was turned on its head earlier in the week when Exotic Dancer's defection saw the weights rise by over a stone, bringing horses punters hadn't seriously considered bang into the picture.
One of them, Island Flyer, saw his odds halved into 7-1 and anyone who managed to get bigger prices before the bookies brought out their scissors could be sitting pretty. "I'm thrilled with him," admitted trainer Tom George. "I wouldn't swap him for any of the others but there are some good horses in there and everything needs to go right on the day."
Connections are also sitting on the fence over the participation of Snoopy Loopy after his dramatic victory in the Betfair Chase last Saturday, although jockey Seamus Durack believes his mount is man enough to stand up to such a gruelling schedule. "He's a tough horse and this will probably be his last chance in a handicap as he will probably take a fair hike once he's reassessed," he said. "If he's in good form I would think they will let him take his chance."
Yesterday's money was for New Alco, with Ladbrokes cutting Ferdy Murphy's charge from 20-1 into 16's. Strongly fancied for last year's Hennessy, Graham Lee's mount ran poorly and was eventually pulled up, so his supporters this time will be looking for a vast improvement on what will be his seasonal debut.
"New Alco worked this morning and everything went very well, so he is on target to run," said Murphy. "He has a good action and wants good ground really, so I wouldn't want it to get much deeper."
Of more immediate concern is trying to come up with a winning nap and fingers crossed Amber Brook fits the bill in Kempton's valuable listed hurdle. Nigel Twiston-Davies's mare handed out a pretty comprehensive beating to Hora when the pair clashed last time out at Wincanton but a big turnaround at the weights is likely to bring the pair much closer here. Maybe not quite close enough, however, for Hora to exact her revenge.
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