General / Graham Cunningham / 05 February 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet View Market

Dublin or Doncaster? After much soul searching Graham Cunningham has opted for Ireland as opposed to South Yorkshire this weekend, but the Racing UK analyst has his eye on the Donny feature event and some big novice events on a huge weekend of jumping action.

Forget the so-called bankers and take Tartak and Oiseau to take flight on Town Moor.

The money buyers will be out in force at Sandown this weekend when Nicky Henderson uses the first three races to test the Cheltenham credentials of three of his most talked about horses.
Good luck if you are planning to wade in head down for Binocular (1.30), According (2.05) and Punchestowns (2.35), but most Saturday punters will be eyeing Doncaster's Blue Square Handicap Chase (3:25) for a value punt and Tartak and Oiseau de Nuit are the pair who catch my eye in a ferociously competitive contest.

Some people will take one look at Tartak's heavy defeat in the King George last month and dismiss him, but Tom George's gelding travelled like a good horse for almost two-and-a-half miles at Kempton and left the strong impression he is in much better form than that bare result suggests.

His earlier second in Huntingdon's Peterborough Chase reads well, as does his fluent win in an Aintree Grade 2 last spring, and I suspect that a strongly-run two miles on a left-handed track will help him leave his Kempton form a long way behind.

The fact that Ruby Walsh has chosen Free World ahead of last year's winner I'msingingtheblues has to be respected, while it will be interesting to see whether Ferdy Murphy has his Champion Chase hope Kalahari King primed after a long absence, but for the second bet I'm more than happy to side with Oiseau de Nuit.

Colin Tizzard's gelding has taken his form to a whole new level since linking up with the hot conditional rider Giles Hawkins and made a useful field including the frustrating Moon Over Miami look second rate at Ffos Las recently.

He looks set to be very competitive again despite an understandable 9lb hike, while the presence of a good hurdler (Woolcombe Folly) and two useful novice chasers (El Dancer and I'm Delilah) could make Mad Max a value lay at short odds in the Lightning Novices' Chase at 2:25.

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Joncol and Roberto can take full advantage as the best of British stay at home again.

What is it with British jumps trainers and their bizarre, parochial nature? Less than two weeks after the end of the biggest freeze in decades there are four Grade 1 contests at Leopardstown this Sunday with more than £300,000 in lovely prize money on offer.

And how many British raiders are there for the biggest day of jumping action in the Irish jumping calendar? The short and surprising answer is just one, namely the Nicky Richards-trained Money Trix in the Hennessy Gold Cup at 3.45.

In an era when we have become used to seeing Irish horses crossing the sea for maiden hurdles worth chump change it's hard to understand why leading British handlers are so wary of making the opposite journey in search of major booty, but there will be plenty of British punters at the Foxrock venue and, Ryanair permitting, I'm glad to say I will be among them.

Betting.betfair.com head honcho Joe Dyer advises me that he has all the Leopardstown angles covered from other sources and that my job this weekend is to focus on the best of Saturday's action.

With that in mind there is no real need to mention that Joncol has the makings of a very interesting contender for the Hennessy. Paul Nolan's giant gelding travelled like the best horse in the Lexus Chase for a long way over course and distance in December only to pay for having a lengthy second circuit duel with Notre Pere from the last.

Backing Joncol to win with a saver on Notre Pere looks the canny play, while Roberto Goldback's good jumping and ability to plough through deep ground earn him a firm vote to get the better of his old rival Weapon's Amnesty in the Dr P.J. Moriarty Chase at 2:40.

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