The Student Punter

  14:30 Aintree The form of the Ultimate Handicap Chase from the Cheltenham festival will be tested thoroughly in the Grand National later on the card, but I think LEAVE OF ABSENCE  can give it a boost here first. A couple of mistakes including a significant one three out in that contest made life difficult but he still ran very well to finish 5th. I made a full case for him in my Cheltenham Day One post, so won’t bang on about it here. Obviously the jumping errors are a small concern, but I think double figures is a fair price. LOOKAWAY  is another one I want on my side after his impressive win at Kempton in the Ladbroke Trophy. He’s up 6lb for that win but that was fully deserved, his prominent racing style should be well suited to this contest and he has run twice at Aintree - winning a Grade 2 bumper and finishing 3rd in a Grade 1 hurdle. LEAVE OF ABSENCE 10/1  - 1 Point Each-Way LOOKAWAY 7/1  - 1 Point Each-Way 16:00 Aintree I’m not going to put any selecti...

    15:32 Doncaster - Lincoln Handicap (1m) With most firms offering plenty of extra places for what is traditionally considered the flat season curtain raiser, I’m going to take a couple of selections here.  SHOUT  is available at 12/1 with six places each-way at the time of writing and I think that’s juicy enough. Although he only won once last season, he certainly proved his liking for a a big field handicap. That sole win came at Ascot over the straight mile, where he was an excellent 4th of 20 in the Balmoral next time. I think he ran an absolute blinder in the latter too, making up good ground after missing the break, in a race where the winner made virtually all. He does have a tendency to be a bit awkward from the gates, but the way this race is run can suit those with his held up style - especially with the extra places on offer. If I like him then I have to have something on  TRIBAL CHIEF  too because he was only a couple of lengths behind and was...

  14:00 - County Handicap Hurdle The Skeltons have been on fire in the handicaps this week with a couple of plots landed with Madara and Supremely West. I don’t think  SINNATRA  is as much of a ‘plot job’ as those two, as the team had Live Conti lined up for this a long way out - but he sadly misses this through injury. Having said that SINNATRA  was very impressive at Warwick on his latest start and although that form hasn’t been throughly tested, his earlier third to Act Of Innocence reads well after he ran a blinder in the Turners Novice Hurdle earlier this week. I think there is a good chance he’ll prove better than a mark of 133 and, given the combination of his yards excellent record in the race and the fact Novices’ tend to well, he’ll be hard to keep out of the six places on offer JOYEUSE  has been well backed for this since I first went through the race and although her winning may buck a couple of trends mentioned above, she has dropped down to a tempt...

  14:00 - Jack Richards’ Novice Handicap Chase There have been a few horses who have taken big steps forwards since leaving Paul Nicholls in the past year including Kabral Du Mathan later on the card, another is THE BLUESMAN  who is now in the care of Olly Murphy. That improvement has also coincided with a switch to fences over which his form figures read 121. He has been held up and had to come through horses in all of this starts which is good experience when moving into a handicap of this nature - especially now switched to the new course. The second from his most recent race, Western Zephyr, ran a creditable race in the plate earlier in the week when 8th of 17 at 50/1. JORDANS CROSS   won the Timeform Novices’ chase back in January which is usually a very good pointer for this race - with 4 of the last 9 winners of this race contesting that January event. The form of that contest has already worked out well with 5th and 6th placed horses both winning handicaps ne...

14:00 - Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase This race has a much more open look to it than we’re used to and I think OSCARS BROTHER  is worth a small each-way play with 4 places available each-way. He has won Grade 2 contests on both his last two starts including beating KOKTAIL DIVIN  back in November. The latter has no doubt improved since and I think he has a good chance too, but with prices available at the time of writing I’ll chance Connor King’s charge to give it a good go from the front. OSCARS BROTHER 14/1  - 0.5 Point Each-Way 14:20 - BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle PUTURHANDSTOGETHER  was a strong fancy of mine for the County Hurdle later in the week, so although I probably would prefer him over 2 miles - I can’t let him go unbacked here. He was a very impressive winner of the Fred Winter last season off 130 and has been running creditably on the flat since then. One positive for this step up in trip is that he did seem to stay on again late in the Aintree Grade 1 Ju...

13:20 - Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Kicking things off for the week with a more open renewal of the Supreme than in some recent years, at the time of writing nothing is jumping out at the prices. I’m sitting on a few small ante-post slips for OLD PARK STAR  who sets the standard here for Nicky Henderson and he’s certainly the right favourite. The money in the past week  or so was for MIGHTY PARK  for Willie Mullins (money since dried up and drifting), it would be some effort to land this off the back of one run over hurdles - albeit a very impressive one. He won by a whopping 28 lengths at Fairyhouse and while visually impressive performances like that can sometimes be misleading, some of the timefigure boys seem to rate that run very highly. The facts are that at this stage OLD PARK STAR  is the only one to run to Supreme winning figures so far this season, something may improve past him - but I’m going to stick with him here I think the current 5/2 on offer is probably...

  14:30 Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) 1m (Str) I was at Newbury for Lockinge day and thought the track was definitely favouring those up with the pace, so the efforts of Rosallion  and NOTABLE SPEECH  are both worthy of an upgrade. The former looked a touch short to me here though and I thought the 5/1 available on Charlie Appleby’s charge was more than fair. He was coming off the back of a 196 day absence at Newbury and was keen early towards the rear, made good headway a couple of furlongs out, but his run petered out in the closing stages as was the case for many on the day. I think the rattling quick ground and the straight track at Ascot will suit him perfectly, I think he can finish ahead of Rosallion again, as he did in the 2000 Guineas last year. Paddy Power are paying 4 places so I would take advantage of that if you are able to. NOTABLE SPEECH 5/1  - 1 Point Each-Way 15:05 Coventry Stakes (Group 2) 6f BONE MARRA  is a massive price in this while the bare...