
It’s official! The Jumps season is back and for the opening meeting at Chepstow, I have three hot selections lined up for you, which I’m hoping will get us off to a strong start.
But before we get to those, just a quick reminder to keep your eyes open for my Cheltenham Festival Ante Post compilation and also the first part of my Countdown to Cheltenham series. Both will be coming your way very soon.
What better way to back some winners at Chepstow than with a new customer offer courtesy of BetUK. If you deposit and bet £10 you will receive £30 in free bets. It’s the perfect way to get the new NH season off to a flying start.
The highlight race for the first day of the Chepstow meeting is the Grade 2 Persian War Novices Chase, where Captain Teague makes his debut over Hurdles. As you may recall, he placed third in the Champion Bumper, but he is very short to win on debut and I’ve found some much better value in the each way market.
I have also selected one very well-Handicapped horse a little later on in the day, who is running for the in-form Twiston-Davies team. In fact they have a few in with good chances here and I cannot wait to see how they all fare.
We start the day off with a Veterans’ Handicap Chase. I’m quite a fan of these races because these older horses don’t have multiple seasons ahead of them and they are usually ready to go first time out.
There’s no doubt that Aye Right has a chance on his best form, but he has only won two of his 17 starts and he has lost plenty of races at the finish. Landofsmiles is race fit and ready to go, having won three times already this season, and he definitely won’t be far away if he gets into a rhythm. Danny Kirwan may need the run first time out, whilst Thomas Darby needs to prove he is worth a shot over fences.
That means the one to side with is Good Boy Bobby, who is the first runner of the day for the Twiston-Davies team. Aye Right actually got the better of Good Boy Bobby in the Rehearsal Chase in 2021, but it was a head-bobbing finish and I think it will be a close call here too. However, Good Boy Bobby is slightly better off in the weights, he is in tip-top shape and with the Twiston-Davies team flying, now is the time to side with him.
The Persian War is the first Graded race on the card and we have a good lineup for this season’s renewal. Captain Teague sets the standard, having finished third in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, and it will be interesting to see how he takes to Hurdles. He has an attractive profile, but this instant progression is no guarantee and I’m not going there at even money
Mullinaree is a nice, progressive type for the Milton Harris team and having won his last five Hurdle starts on the bounce, he has to be respected. But I’m going to take a chance on Olly Murphy’s Resplendent Grey, who made it onto my personal ‘Ten to Follow’ list for this season and is open to plenty on his first start of the season.
This gelding has the benefit of experience over Hurdles, having won twice in pretty smart fashion already, and he is definitely one of Olly Murphy’s better novices. Resplendent Grey is a slick jumper with plenty of pace and he will be nicely tuned for his first start of the season. At 12/1 I’m definitely having a piece of the EW action.
A tricky Handicap Hurdle to figure out here, but there is one horse that is particularly well-treated, which is Chance A Tune, for the Twiston-Davies team. I’ve already mentioned that the yard has been in really good form of late and this gelding ran a huge race for them at Market Rasen just recently, following a long break.
Although he only placed third that day, it was behind Liverpool Knight, and that form alone could work out particularly well. Chance A Tune is running off a low mark of 108, so he looks to have plenty more going for him than most here and I believe he’ll prove to be a bit too good for the rest of this field.
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