Horseracing Betting Briefing December 14 - 20: Here's hoping the weather won't decimate a fine week of racing

Events / Andrew Hughes / 14 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

Andrew Hughes looks at the highlights of the week to come in horseracing.

Like cricket, racing depends heavily on the weather conditions, but unlike the summer game, the peak of the National Hunt season coincides with the worst of the meteorological conditions. Jumps fans are used to losing entire days action during the winter and, to an extent, it is unavoidable. However, the abandonment of Cheltenham's Saturday card, including two feature races, is not only a disappointment to punters, racecourse officials and trainers; it isn't great for the sport. In particular, the decision that none of the races will be rescheduled is a shame. You can understand Nicky Henderson's frustration when, with a bit of effort, races such as the International could have been transferred to Newbury on Wednesday or Ascot next weekend. Only days ago, Punchestown were able to move their entire card back two days and Tramore were able to do something similar earlier in the year. Surely the time has come to give consideration to setting aside spare days for each of the main meetings or at least, to have contingency plans in place to move the big contests in the event of abandonment? It would at least look a lot more professional than the current ad-hoc arrangements and may help avoid the loss of revenue that abandonment entails.

Sunday 14th December

As ever, the pick of the Sunday action is over the Irish Sea. Cork hosts the best card of the day, headed by the Hilly Way Chase. This is a Grade Two contest run over two miles and likely to feature some of the speedier Irish chasers. There is also the Stayers Novices' Hurdle, a three mile contest for a big field of young hurdlers that offers a real staying challenge. And not to be missed is the Lombardstown Mares Novices' Chase over a little further than two miles. Typical of its kind, it can vary in quality, but there may be one or two potential stars on show.

Hopefully Navan will beat the frost as there are some cracking races at the course today. The Barry and Sandra Kelly Memorial Novices' Hurdle is not the strongest Grade One you are likely to see, but should be a competitive two-and-a-half mile contest, featuring a small field of talented novices. The Tara Hurdle over the same distance is also worth watching and is likely to feature a mixture of progressive types and top class animals. Finally, there is a Graded Bumper race to finish the meeting; as ever, a real challenge to the punter and it can usually pay to focus on those stables who farm these contests.

Friday 19th December

A two day meeting at Ascot and Friday's action features a couple of decent Grade Two contests. The Kennel Gate Novices Hurdle, run over two miles, is invariably a strong race and worth noting for future winners. And the Noel Novices' Chase will feature a number of potential staying chasers of high quality.

Saturday 20th December

Top of the bill at Ascot today is the Long Walk Hurdle, a three mile one furlong contest of the very highest calibre, likely to include several World Hurdle contenders. Supporting the showcase race are a couple of typically competitive Saturday handicaps for punters to get their teeth into. The Silver Cup Handicap Chase will feature a large field slogging their way round three miles of this galloping course, whilst the Ladbroke Hurdle over two miles is another cavalry charge for form students to unravel. And if that wasn't challenging enough, the card concludes with a Grade Two Bumper over two miles, including several jumping stars of the future.

There is some decent action elsewhere. Up at Newcastle there is the Northumberland Chase, a high class handicap likely to include some familiar contenders from the northern circuit. And down at Lingfield, there is one of the relatively new Listed contests for the all-weather, the Quebec Stakes, run over the same 10 furlong distance as the Winter Derby and likely to include one or two horses being aimed for that race.