All England Cup Betting: Best be on Boherna as column strives for fourth straight success

Events / Darrell Williams / 30 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

The Open race circuit moves to Newcastle and Darrell Williams - successful in his last three ante-post tipping columns - likes the look of Barrie Draper's dog...

Fresh from Bubbly Totti's routing the opposition in the Leger on Tuesday night - making it three successful ante-post selections on the spin for this column after Droopys Kez in the Northern Puppy Derby and Boherna Best in the Laurels - the Open race scene moves onto the All England Cup at Newcastle.

It's a competition packed with quality performers, and includes a number of this year's big race winners, all of which readily explains the open nature of the betting. But for me one dog stands out as a must bet against the other thirty-five who compete in tonight's first round heats - Barrie Draper's Boherna Best.

Already a winner on these pages, as highlighted above, he has been rested since winning the Laurels three weeks ago, but an excellent trial over the 480m trip last weekend suggests he is ready to resume where he left off. The winner of eight of his 11 career starts, the fact he has done all his racing under competition rules - his record also includes victory in the Monmore Gold Cup - makes his record even more impressive and quotes of [6.0] should be taken.

Ante-post favourite Farloe Reason is a class act and the Blue Riband winner is naturally more than capable of winning this prize. However, a track record performance in the first round of the Yarmouth Derby was followed by elimination in the quarter-finals, a not dissimilar pattern which was repeated in the Laurels, which also ended in defeat in the second round.

On top of that, Charlie Lister's runner has also been drawn in by far the toughest heat (7.11), a race which also features Lochbo Meg, Greenwell River and Dotland Hit Man. Despite that I'm actually putting up the bitch Lochbo Meg as one of my ante-post savers, but only because she is available at an enticing [13.0]. A winner of seven of her last ten starts, which includes the Sunderland Oaks, she has retained her form arguably longer than any of her rivals. And while most of those races has been in bitches only events, she has also beaten the boys twice. I did also consider Dotland Hit Man, recently returned from Ireland and a semi-finalist in the Scottish Derby, especially after his decent trial last week, but his odds looks slightly too restrictive.

Northern Puppy Derby finalist Crown Rover should appreciate the wide expanses of Newcastle, and the strong staying youngster - he turns two on Saturday - was another given serious consideration.

However, my third pick is Mustang Garcia, who posted one of the fastest times of the year at the track in a recent OR win. While he can occasionally put in the odd bad run, odds of [21.0] more than make up for that and Graham Hutt's charge looks well drawn inside wide-moving Droopys Carvalho, who has been slightly below par for a few runs now and is easily opposed, in the 8.43 race.