-
Kevin goes in again with an Evan Williams runner
-
And our man is taking on the trends crew in the feature
-
Two bets on the big Saturday card at Newbury
-
Read and follow our daily Live Blog here
-
Sign up for our World Cup Newsletter here
The National Hunt season rolls on with excellent cards at Newcastle and Newbury taking centre stage on ITV Racing on Saturday. While a great amount of attention will focus on a fascinating renewal of the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, my selections are both running at Newbury.
A Williams winner at Newbury?
My first port of call is the Coral Racing Club Handicap Hurdle (13:55) and I feel I have some unfinished business with the Evan Williams-trained Current Mood. I made her my selection in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham a couple of weeks ago, but she was withdrawn due to unsuitable ground. I can't let her run here without keeping the faith and I dare say she looks to have an even better chance in this race than she did in the Greatwood.
The seven-year-old showed plenty of promise when trained by Liam Kenny in Ireland prior to switching to Williams last season and she made an immediate impact for her new trainer. She won three of her seven starts over hurdles last season and also ran with great credit in Listed and Grade 2 company. While she gave the impression that three miles might well be a bit further than the optimum trip for her, this two-and-a-half mile trip around an orthodox track may well be ideal for her.
Her return to action in a handicap hurdle over two-and-a-half miles at Ffos Las was very eye-catching indeed. She looked likely to play a major role in the finish at one point, but was not at all knocked about in the closing stages and ended up finishing third. She can be expected to come on from that run and a big effort from her would not surprise.
A missile called Busselton
The main event on the card is the Coral Gold Cup Handicap Chase (15:05) and while it is a race with a rich history that has witnessed some of the most memorable performances of recent decades, this year's renewal looks a bit below average in terms of depth.
It presents an opportunity, mind. An opportunity to be relished. It offers the chance to launch a glorious missile at those misguided souls that put their faith in race trends to guide their selections. I just can't have them. Awful, lazy, backfitted nonsense in the main.
So, when the trends boys (and girls, possibly, probably not) pipe up with a proclamation that one I fancy "can't win" based on the trends, it gets me ever-so fired up for battle.
And the missile I'll be launching on this occasion goes by the name of Busselton. The trends people (better safe than non-PC these days) will tell you that a five-year-old has NEVER won this race in it's 65-year history. They'll also tell you that Irish-trained winners of the race in that time can be counted on one hand and that two of them came courtesy of Arkle back in the 1960s. In fact, the only Irish-trained winner of the race in the last 40 years was the Willie Mullins-trained Total Recall in 2017, which gave Mullins some compensation after his other winner of the race Be My Royal was disqualified after being caught up in contaminated feed scandal.
However, in Busselton we might well have the ideal trends-buster. While he may be short on years, he isn't short on chasing experience with him already having 12 runs over fences to his name.
His first try at three miles resulted in an improved performance when winning the Kerry National at Listowel last time and while many will be of the view that Hewick was coming to claim him when falling at the final fence, Busselton was still in there fighting. Raised 7lb for that, he remains unexposed at staying trips and will be well suited by the prevailing ground. JJ Slevin gets on well with him and a big run can be expected from him.
Let's be having you, trends people!
BIG action at Newcastle. Weekend Briefing. Episode 3...