Hello folks, ventured over here to talk through the two bets I have had so far. Hewick at 20/1 and Ahoy Senor at 125/1...
Hewick, the winner two years ago, memorably for coming from the clouds to get up. Ground is crucial to him, 10 of his top 11 runs according to RPR have come on good to soft/yielding or faster (The one exception was when falling in the Gold Cup on soft). Ground is important for this horse. With the possibility of 13 runners and a fair bit of pace on then you are going to want to be able to jump and stay well, so I can see this race being set up nicely for Hewick. Assuming Royale Pagaille doesn't show up then Hewick will top the RPRs with his best adjusted of 175 in a field limited in improvers. Steady improvement on his two runs this year, he could be peaking here.
The Ahoy Senor bet is a real shot in the dark, but, 125/1 (now 100/1) for the horse with the highest official rating in the race is ridiculous and an insult. I can excuse that Betfair Chase run on awful ground with the jockey making the right decision to pull up 3 out, not putting the horse through the gruelling run up the straight. Take out that run and what price would he be on the back of the eye catching 3rd in the Old Roan? Only Royale Pagaille (Unlikely runner) and Banbridge (From unseating behind Energumene) has a higher recorded RPR this year than the 169 Ahoy got when carrying 11st 12lb in the Old Roan. He has a habit of jumping right so track should suit. Did disappoint in the race in 2022 but that was coming on the back of just 23 days from finishing 3rd to Noble Yeats in the Many Clouds at Aintree. Trainer on her website suggested that he has come out of that last race well. He does seem to enjoy Aintree but hopefully another flat track in Kempton could also be to his liking. He will need to find some rhythm and consistency to his jumping that can often let him down, but if he does get it right then he could well be in with a chance of placing.