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Royal Ascot will be missing a true star

As the 2012 flat season edges close, followers of the sport are waiting in anticipation to see the return of the likes of Frankel, Camelot and St Nicholas Abbey on the racecourse once again.

Unfortunately one horse we won’t see at the track this year is the 2011 Queen Annes Stakes winner Canford Cliffs.

The five year-old year old retired to stud not long after his success at Royal Ascot where he got the better of the 14-time Group One winner Goldikova in a close tussle on day one of the Royal meeting.

His final appearance before his retirement was in the much eagerly awaited clash with Frankel at Goodwood. At the age of four, Canford Cliffs was taking on the 2000 Guineas winner and the most highly regarded miler in Europe. Richard Hannon’s runner hung left in the closing stages and was beaten by five lengths to the new superstar in racing. Those following the latest Royal Ascot odds will have been impressed.

Canford Cliffs won five Group Ones in the 11 racecourse appearances of his career, which included the Irish 2000 Guineas, Lockinge Stakes and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Although Hannon has lost one of his prized assets from his yard, he does have three-time Group Two winner Strong Suit who could be ready to step up to Group One company this season. The Qatar Bloodstock Ltd-owned four year old failed in his attempt to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on his final start of 2011, however, wins at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood ensured a pleasing year for connections.

Hannon will also be confident that Dick Turpin can add another Group One victory to his record at the age of five in the upcoming campaign.

Festival Previews – The Champion Hurdle

The Champion Hurdle is in one sense straightforward and in another very complicated. Firstly, if the reigning champion Hurricane Fly turns up he will be very hard to beat. But given his current state of wellbeing and his predilection for missing engagements this season it may well be better to wait for the day and see if he actually turns up. Remember despite that striking performance at the Festival last year we have not seen him on a racecourse since Punchestown in May.

Some of those that finished behind the Hurricane are expected to take him on again if he does turn up to defend his crown, but it’s fairly hard to see any of them reversing the form and it will be the new swathe of hurdlers that many are looking to as the horses that have the potential to become the new Champion Hurdle winner if we are to have one. Those looking for horse racing betting tips should remember this.

Spirit Son would have been one of those new kids on the block who would have been among the choice of many but he met a setback after a searching gallop at home and the second for last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle may take some time to get back to full fitness. Zarkandar would be another who would fit in this category but he too has been absent so far with injury, but in his absence his form when winning the Triumph Hurdle has received several boosts through the exploits of the Triumph second, third and ninth Unaccompanied, Grandouet and Brampour.

Grandouet has made significant strides and was quite an impressive winner of the International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December, even though he was getting weight from Overturn and the rider on the third Brampour was unable to claim his allowance. Unaccompanied won the Istabraq Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown in the absence of Hurricane Fly, showing a good turn of foot to get the better of the 2011 Champion Hurdle fourth Thousand Stars and Oscars Well, the placed horses having been first and second in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown. People placing Cheltenham 2012 bets should bear this in mind.

All of those from the 2011 Triumph Hurdle would have some sort of chance if they turned up on the big day itself.

Former winner Binocular appears to be short enough in the betting against horses of such potential but he has been there and done it and most recently won the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton where he beat Rock On Ruby. Rock On Ruby was beaten in the Neptune Investment Hurdle last year at the Festival over the 2M 5F trip but this year has shown enough pace to win Gerry Fielden at Newbury in very taking fashion before being touched off narrowly by Binocular at Kempton around a track that was surely too much of a speed test for him.

If Hurricane Fly does make the Festival he would have every chance of making it back-to-back victories in the race but given his current fragile state of health it may be better to wait until the day. There is plenty of potential in the likely field, all of which have solid Cheltenham form and it promises to be a fascinating race on Tuesday March 14th.

Five Handicap Chase Statistics at the Cheltenham Festival

Statistics and trends are now part and parcel of the analysis of the Cheltenham Festival; here are five of the strongest from the six handicap chases at the meeting that have taken our eye in the run-up to this year’s meeting.

JLT Specialty Steeple Chase

The first handicap chase of the meeting and one where it is wise to eradicate any horses aged 11 and over from your thoughts, since 1997, not even one of this age group has placed. There were two contenders last year and the best that those two could finish was an 8th place from The Sawyer, aged 11. Those following the Cheltenham betting should remember this.

Glenfarclas Handicap Cross Country Chase

Quite simply experience over these fences is essential and supporting debutantes over the course makes life very difficult in punting terms. You have to go back to 2001 to find any first-time out winner over the cross country course at Cheltenham and it really should be safe to rule out any horse having its first experience of the Cross Country course at the Cheltenham Festival. Last year’s winner Sizing Australia has already had a few sighters over the course. People looking for 2012 Cheltenham betting tips need to bear this in mind.

Byrne Group Plate

Just about the hardest race at the Festival to find the winner at, the last ten winners have all started in double figures, the shortest being a pair of 12/1 winners in 2004 and 2007. One group of runners that are unlikely to help you find the winner of the race are the Irish trained runners, they have had just the one winner in this race since 1951, and last year the 9/2 favourite Irish trained Beautiful Sound was beaten into third place.

Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase

A race for amateur riders and as with plenty of these type of races throughout the season experience in the saddle counts for plenty and a non-claiming amateur is a major plus. Look out especially for the top-class Irish amateurs coming over to take rides, as last season theu partnered four of the first five home.

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase

For such a competitive and strongly run race it is somewhat surprising how lightly raced over fences the majority of the last ten winners of the race are. Until last year when Oiseau De Nuit took the prize none of them had run more than 12 times and that fact is backed up by how well novices run in this race – winning the past two out of the last three years and lowly weighted novices should always be respected in this race.

Gold Cup on agenda for gutsy Big Spender

It might not have occurred to most punters prior to his bid for the Grade 3 Betfred Classic Chase at Warwick recently that Colin Tizzard’s staying chaser Hey Big Spender could be a contender at Cheltenham on March 16 for the Gold Cup, but that could well be the big target this term for the horse who bravely overcame the steadier of 11st 12lbs to win at the Midlands track in particularly determined fashion, writes Elliot Slater.

Tizzard suggested having a crack at the blue riband event of the National Hunt racing after seeing his nine-year-old defy his massive weight to beat the fast-finishing Fredo by three-quarters-of-a-length, giving the runner-up 26lbs. Testing ground clearly makes all the difference for the tough as teak son of Rudimentary who earlier in the term had again showed his battling qualities when outstaying The Hollinwell to land the listed Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle at the end of November under similar underfoot conditions. Those with Cheltenham Free bets should bear this in mind.

Immediately ruling out a bid for the John Smith’s Grand National on the grounds that he believes his horse is not a good enough jumper to successfully tackle the massive spruce fences at the Liverpool track, Tizzard then went on to tell reporters that if the ground came up testing at Cheltenham he would not be at all against having a crack at the big guns such as Kauto Star and Long Run. On the back of his latest win Hey Big Spender’s revised handicap rating will surely be around the 160-mark, a level that whilst being more than a stone behind the two gold Cup market principals would certainly suggest he would not be disgraced if he encounters optimum conditions at the Prestbury track. People looking at the Betfair Cheltenham betting odds need to remember this.

Bookmakers don’t take Hey Big Spender’s chance too seriously though in generally offering odds of around 66/1, but then again they didn’t take the chance of Norton’s Coin too seriously in 1990 when he won the greatest jumps race of all at a massive 100/1!

Recession forced out of Betfair Hurdle

Time has run out on the race to have last year’s winner Recession Proof ready to defend his title in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury on February 11, writes Elliot Slater.

The John Quinn-trained gelding has not been seen this season having last raced when a respectable fifth behind Al Ferof in the Supreme Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, staying on in the closing stages to beat beaten just eight-lengths by Paul Nicholls’ talented grey. The son of Rock of Gibraltar had been expected to compete at the Aintree Festival three weeks later but after meeting a minor setback was given the rest of the season off with a view to coming back to bid for a number of major prizes this term. Those looking at the Bwin betting should bear this in mind.

Unfortunately for connections of the dual purpose performer, a series of niggling injuries have meant that Quinn’s charge has failed to make it to the racecourse so far this term and now the North Yorkshire-based handler has admitted defeat in his attempt to have the horse ready to return to Newbury to bid for a second Betfair Hurdle, (run last season as the Totesport Trophy), and will focus on trying to overcome what are reportedly minor ailments to have him fit to run at either or both of the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals. People with a Bwin free bet should remember this.

Generally on offer at 16/1 for the valuable two-mile contest, Recession Proof produced a fine performance last year when battling on bravely from the second last to hold the persistent challenge of Bothy by just a short-head in what was one of the best finishes of the National Hunt season. Successful over two-and-a-half-miles in heavy ground at Lingfield earlier last campaign, connections clearly think staying is now very much the game for their charge who holds an entry in the three-mile Ladbrokes World Hurdle for which he is on offer with most firms at odds of 66/1.

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