Taunton & Haydock – Thursday 30th December

After a breathtaking couple of days of action in Ireland, the Irish racing gasps for a quick breath before going onto Punchestown, Tramore and Naas over the next few days. However, in England, there is still some good festive racing at both Haydock and Taunton. Despite racing looking quite tricky today, there are a few horses that might just be a little bit bigger in price than they should be, and should be backed as a result.

Starting at Taunton and the only race I’ll be covering from there is the 1.50 race, which is Novice Handicap Chase over the guts of 3m. This race is for horses rated 0-120 and 10 runners are going to post. This looks an awkward race to get to the bottom of as some of these horses have failed to convince over fences despite shaping very nicely last season. I am going to take a chance on one of those aforementioned types, with Pennyforapound from the Rebecca Curtis stable. This horse looked like a good progressive horse last season over hurdles where it took him a couple of runs to get to his best. His two chase runs have been nothing short of deplorable this season, and it leaves him with plenty of questions to answer. However, I don’t believe he has become a bad horse overnight and the results from the yard would insinuate that horses are coming on for their first and second run. He is a big outsider at a price of 33/1 with SkyBet, who offer 4 places. He has enough form from last year to take that risk that there might be some spark in the tank. 

Moving to Haydock, where there are some good races on offer throughout the card, especially some very good staying chases. The 1.00 race is another Novices Handicap Chase over the trip of 2m6f and sees just the six runners going to post on this occasion. Despite having to lug around top weight in this field, I think Ashtown Lad could go well for connections that will be seeking a double today for their owner. Ashtown Lad was a very good winner on chase debut up at Wetherby, when jumping with aplomb to trounce a good field. He then headed to Newbury to contest a Grade 2 and fell well short of the mark. However, that day he was facing Ahoy Senor, and there are certainly none of those types of horses lurking in this race. He seems to have been disregarded by the market based on that run, but I think he will benefit greatly from this step down in class and if finding a rhythm, will take some pegging back. At a best price of 10/1 with Bet365, who offer 2 places, he is an each way bet. 

The final selection of the day comes in the 2.05 race, which is the 3m4f feature race on the day, the Last Fling chase. This is always a stamina sapping race around Haydock and I am always a fan of proven form in these types of races as an assured way of going at it. Despite blowing hot and cold a lot of the time, the answer to this race could be the former winner, Chef D’Oeuvre, who has looked fairly average so far this season in his two starts, but does boast two wins over this course and distance. He won this race well back in 2018 and he also scooped the Tim Molony Handicap last season also. He is back on the same mark as that win from last year and his third behind Saint Palais last time out has been well advertised by the progressive winner. Ladbrokes are generously offering 3 places for this race, despite their only being 7 runners, and I’ll be backing him with that bookmaker at 15/2.