General / Graham Cunningham / 30 January 2009 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Paul Nicholls will need eyes in the back of his head to keep track of all his runners this Saturday, says Racing UK Analyst Graham Cunningham. And can Tony McCoy hit the 3,000 mark this morning?

Araldur no good thing as King and Nicholls lock horns again

If it's Saturday then Paul Nicholls and Alan King must loom large in all the big jumping races.

This weekend is no exception and the pair go head to head when Araldur and Herecomesthetruth meet in Sandown's Scilly Isles Chase at 2.35.

Official figures make this is a no brainer, as the King-trained Araldur has plenty in hand based on his gallant defeat of Free World here in December. But will it be that straightforward?

I suspect not. Herecomesthetruth is thriving on racing at present and bolted up off 133 in a Chepstow handicap, while Buck The Legend, Pressgang and Massinis Maguire have all shown smart form.

Add in the probability of a searching gallop putting a high premium on accurate jumping and Araldur may not have it all his own way on his first try at this trip. In short, I suspect I will be laying him if he trades at [3.0] or under.

Halo can shine in duel with Osana

Nicholls has a David Pipe-trained star as his main opponent when Celestial Halo limbers up for Cheltenham by taking on last year's Champion Hurdle runner-up Osana in the Contenders Hurdle at 2.05.

Much will depend on the market here. Punters nearly always opt for recent form as opposed to performances from last year, so I suspect that Celestial Halo will be a very solid favourite.

Even so, I'm not inclined to oppose him. Last year's Triumph Hurdle winner tried his heart out against the irresistible Bonocular at Ascot in December.

Reports suggest Ruby Walsh was thrilled when he partnered him at home earlier this week and the fact that he receives 4lb from Osana should tilt the scales firmly in his favour.

Tip your hat to Chapoturgeon in the Donny opener

That man Nicholls must need eyes in the back of his head to keep on top of all his runners when Saturday comes around.

The champion trainer will doubtless be watching on television from Sandown when Chapoturgeon lines up for Doncaster's 1.25 and I suspect he will like what he sees. Granted, this five-year-old isn't one of the crack members of the Ditcheat team, but he looked all set for victory when departing at Exeter and caught the eye giving the aforementioned Araldur a race for nine tenths of a useful Warwick contest on his latest start.

Heathcote looks beatable under a double penalty, while The Dukes Speech tends to hit flat spots in his races. Degas Art followed a heavy chasing fall with a subdued effort over hurdles last time, but Chapoturgeon jumped really well at Warwick and will surely be hard to beat getting weight all round here.

Salute the peerless McCoy as 3,000 barrier beckons

The problem with AP McCoy is that people ran out of new things to say about him long ago and, as a result, the intense media coverage of his quest for 3,000 winners this week has consisted largely of stuff we already knew about him.

First, he chases perfection like no other jump jockey of the modern era; second, he has a pain threshold which is awesome to behold; third he is looked on with astonishing reverence by all his peers in the weighing room; and fourth, he isn't anything like so dour a character away from work as he seems on the racecourse.

But the bottom line is that McCoy has raised the bar for jumps jockeys higher than it has ever been raised before.

With any luck he will hit the 3,000 mark this weekend, preferably in the green and gold of JP McManus. He deserves every ounce of praise which comes his way. There will never - but never - be another one like him.

Two big reasons why Denman is a National lay

Denman will not run in the Grand National.

There, I've said it. Time may prove me wrong, and the Gold Cup winner is certain to head the handicap when the weights are published on February 10th, but connections are growing cooler on the Aintree showpiece and Betfair layers are now prepared to offer 14-1 against the hulking nine-year-old conquering the big fences in April.

I took a firm view against Denman in Betfair's Aintree last week in the belief that one of two things will happen over the next six weeks.

First, he will disappoint either on his planned reappearance at Newbury or in the Gold Cup itself, in which case Liverpool will surely be off the agenda.Or second, he will shine at Newbury before winning the Gold Cup again, thereby ensuring that a Gold Cup hat-trick to match Arkle and Best Mate takes strong precedence over any bold yet risky National dreams.

Either way, I don't think we will be seeing Denman at Aintree. What do you think?