Tipping / Wayne Bailey / 30 April 2009 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Friday's festival racing includes the Rabobank Champion Hurdle, where Quevega is attracting the early money. Meanwhile, Mikael D'haguenet will be very hard to beat if running to form in the Land Rover Champion Novice Hurdle writes Wayne Bailey...

I've been a massive fan of Mikael D'haguenet ever since he made his Irish debut at Navan back in November, and Willie Mullins' French import is definitely the one to beat in the Land Rover Champion Novice Hurdle (6.05).

The long-term plan is to go chasing, but he can still pick up some big hurdle prizes before that happens and early quotes of even money look about right.
Stablemate Cousin Vinny disappointed somewhat at Cheltenham but looks the best of the rest. Willie Mullins said on Thursday that Mikael came out of Cheltenham very well and out of the two horses, he's the one most likely to bring the prizemoney home.

Earlier on at 5.30, Punjabi is back to defend his crown in the Rabobank Champion Hurdle, and I don't see any reason to oppose. He was friendless at Cheltenham on Betfair at [26.0], and he just hasn't seemed to capture the betting public's heart for some reason. But credit where it's due and he came home strongly to win his eleventh race from 29 runs. Quevega should give him the most to do, but Ruby Walsh has expressed some concern on Thursday:

"She drops back to two miles so there is no doubt about stamina, but you would just be worried whether she has the gears of a horse like Punjabi."

Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins have been in cracking form at the festival, but I'll be opposing them in favour of Nicky Henderson's six-year-old here.

At 6.40, Copper Bleu will be very hard to beat in the Star Best For Racing Coverage Novice Hurdle. The ground should suit and the word on the grapevine is that he's been in flying form back home in Somerset.

This former Irish point-to-point winner certainly wasn't disgraced when narrowly beaten into second in the John Smith's Mersey Novices' Hurdle at Aintree, and he should have enough class to keep Colm Murphy's Zaarito at bay. In the place market, I'll throw a few shekels on Puyol, a genuine sort that should also like the ground conditions.

The Fillies bumper at 7.15 is a layers benefit contest and should be avoided at all costs! Very few of the entrants have raced under rules before and of those that have, they didn't perform particularly well. If a gun were put to my head, I'd suggest that Spare Shilling might be in with a chance of placing, but my money will definitely be kept safe from this contest.

We've a very big field going to post in the bumper at 7.45 and most of those horses are unexposed. I won't go to town with my stakes, but I'll keep two horses on my side by dutching Charlie Swan's Last Draw and Willie Mullins' Definitely Marble at an overall price of roughly [3.2]. Mullins has a cracking record with debut horses and all the noises coming from the yard are positive on this one. Meanwhile, Last Draw has been unlucky a number of times in-running, but if he stays out of trouble he may just have what it takes to win a race like this.

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