Reel Dancer To Strut His Stuff

The Warwickshire Hunt stages their annual Bank Holiday Monday late afternoon meeting at the Ashorne point-to-point course near Warwick on Monday 5th May 2008. A very good entry has been received for this meeting and with a decent amount of rain over the past few weeks the going is likely to be perfect. This course can suffer from very firm ground at this time of year but We have 155 runners entered on a 7 race card with the first race commencing at 4.00 p.m. For directions to the course please click here. There will also be several stalls, a fully licensed bar and various other catering facilities.

Open Maiden Race Divison 1

As usual the meeting kicks off with an Open Maiden race and in Divison 1 there are many horses with very good chances. The best form is held by Port Talbot and Sahara Legend although I will be expecting a better effort from Owens Boy following his 5th at Tweseldown earlier in the season, Kingston Heath also ran well to finish 3rd at Garthorpe last week and also comes into the calculations in a very open contest. I believe Sahara Legend will finally break her maiden tag following 3 2nd place finishes already this season, Port Talbot will probably just find one to good again here and finish in the places.

Selection :Sahara Legend

Alternative : Port Talbot


Confined Race

The Confined race looks very competitive aswell as we see many improving types with strong form, there is not much to choose on paper between the likes of Cheyne, Gunther McBride, Longville Lad, Milesian King, Oscar Royal and Sleep Bal. This is going to be a strongly contested race and i am going to suggest Milesian King as the winner following a decent defeat of Marblehead at Andoversford and then running ok in a hunter chase at the major benefit for Milesian King is that many of his leading rivals in this race are front runners so we could see many of them take each other on at the beginning of the race, This looks as if it will set up the race for a finisher like Milesian King or maybe even Sweet Minuet if he does not get to far adrift. Longville Lad will probably make the running but he has been running out of steam very quickly recently and it is hard to see him winning this, more of a danger could be Sleep Bal who recorded a good victory over Cheyne at the Atherstone but does look as if he only just gets the 3 mile trip. A fascinating race looks on the cards with Milesian King just coming out on top

Selection : Milesian King

Alternative : Sleep Bal


Open Maiden Race Division 2

The second divison of the maiden is probably even more competitive than the first and holds good chances for most of the field. The best form on offer comes from the likes of Beat the Bandits, Declans Choice, Highlight Girl, Iron Bay, Red Alf and Watchthisspace all of the these horses are still open to plenty more improvement and trying to narrow this race down to one or two looks very hard. Red Alf ran a very good race behind Clifford T ward at the Atherstone a fortnight ago and he should be one who should go very close, Red Alf should also have the measure of Watchthisspace who finished 2nd in the other maiden race on the same card but was run in a 12 second slower time. I think he could be the winner here so that is where the pin is going to drop.

Selection : Red Alf

Alternative : Iron Bay


Hunt Members Race

This race only has 11 runners entered and looks a very good chance for Reel Dancer to get back to winning ways, Reel Dancer has been very consistent this season putting in some good efforts in Mens Open races, this drop in class will definitely suit him and should be very hard to beat. The main danger to Reel Dancer looks to be Oscar Royal from the Fred Hutsby yard, the Hutsby family love having winners at their local meeting and if on song could push Reel Dancer all the way. The only other runner worth a mention is Sweet Minuet who has been getting detached from the field in his last few races but staying on well at the finish, he should take 3rd spot behind the two principals.

Selection : Reel Dancer (NAP)

Alternative : Oscar Royal


Mixed Open

This race looks an absolute cracker with several of the runners holding some good chances, the two main horses to concentrate on are Persian Hero and Irilut, Persian Hero has been in really good form recently and won well at Guilsborough a few weeks ago beating Tallow Bridge and Teeton Bollinger, he will have to be at his best to beat this field but looks well upto the task, his main danger should be Irilut who has had a very long hard season but on the best of his form will push the selection all the way, my only concern for him is that his form has slightly tailed off in his last few races and maybe all these hard races have finally taken there toll. The other dangers look to be Harapour who was very impressive taking a confined race at Guilsborough but this race maybe a bit to hot for him.

Selection : Persian Hero (N.B)

Alternative : Irilut


Restricted

24 Runners for the Restricted race but not that many in this race with chances. Alf Spinney seems to of got his act together and after his facile maiden victory will be very hard to beat here, he does face however two or three other horses which look improving types and could cause him some problems if at the top of their game. Il Marinaio for Polly Gundry looks to be the biggest danger after a decent victory at Barbury racecourse he should go very well and Killnascully King who ran ok at the Berkeley meeting at Woodford should also have chances even though he was beaten quite a long way. Our Chesney from the Tuckey yard ran a very good race at Guilsborough last week and he should also be put on the shortlist to take this event.

Selection : Alf Spinney

Alternative : Il Marinaio


PPORA Club Members (Nov Riders)

The PPORA Club Members race looks to be another very difficult race on a very hard card for punters. I am going to stick my neck out in this race in the hope that Prioritisation can put in a similar performance as he did a year ago when running Irilut very close in the Mixed Open race,it would of been a good battle between them both but Prioritisation made such a bad mistake at the last fence when challenging that he lost all momentum and could not get back in the race,if he could repeat a similar run in this race then he will take all the beating. There are of course numerous others with good chances the best of them seem to be Catch the Bus, Earl of Buckingham and Winsley who will be looking for another all the way victory. A very hard race to finish proceedings but hopefully we have given you a good price winner to send you off to Kingston Blount next week with some readies in your pocket to fight another day.

Selection : Prioritisation

Alternative : Winsley


Looks a great afternoon's racing with many competitive races, and a meeting not to be missed. Hoping to report a few winners in our review of this meeting on Tuesday.

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