Saturday 8th February 2020

Exciting racing this afternoon from Newbury. Chantry House, Altior and Native River all on the same card whilst on top of that, the Betfair Hurdle.

It would be great to see Altior come back to his very best and cement his place as the top two-mile chaser. It seems connections have abandoned the idea of going over further, this looks the correct move.

Altior does perhaps have a little bit to prove, the horse apparently took a long time to recover from his run at Ascot when beaten over 2m5f. Recent work has seen Altior back to his very best Nicky Henderson reports. Altior will likely win but at odds of 2-5, you’ll have to be brave to find out.

Just six horses run and there looks to be some EW value. Sceau Royal priced at 11-1 looks the pick. Sceau Royal is possibly running for just second place, but you never know in this game.

The Betfair Hurdle is a fantastic race, I hope Thebannerkingrebel runs well for one of our trainers Jamie Snowden. It will be interesting to see how Not So Sleepy runs too, he might come into the Champion Hurdle picture with a win today.

At Wolverhampton this evening in the 6:00, I’ve been keeping my eye on a horse called Plunger.

I’ve seen this horse run in person a few times of late and he looks ready to strike. Plunger has been slow away with blindfold problems a couple of  times. Adam Kirby taking over in the saddle seems to suggest connections mean business.

If today is the day for Plunger, I’ve got no idea but he’s a horse to watch in the coming weeks as he’ll win very soon. Priced at 5-1 at the moment.