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- Cheltenham Showcase Day 2: Key Irish Contenders To Watch
Cheltenham Showcase Day 2: Key Irish Contenders To Watch
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© Healy Racing Photos
Cheltenham's Showcase Meeting concludes on Saturday afternoon as the new season at the Cotswolds venue gets up and running.
They race at Prestbury Park from 1.10-4.40, with seven races including the feature William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Chase (2.20), with north of £50k to the winner.
There are 29 Irish-trained horses headed for Cheltenham on Saturday afternoon and we've picked out three worth keeping tabs on.
1.10 - William Hill Each Way Extra Novices' Limited Handicap Chase - West Away
The elder brother of top rider Keith, Ian Donoghue started off in the pony racing circuit and had early spells with Pat Martin, Gavin Cromwell and Gordon Elliott before he began breaking and pre-training for Cromwell and sought to get his own training operation off the ground.
He's now a trainer seemingly going places and he was successful with Lisnamult Lad at Cheltenham's October meeting last year.
He returns with some good chances on Saturday's card, including West Away in the opening Novices' Limited Handicap Chase over two-and-a-half-miles.
The Westerner gelding joined this handler from John McConnell, where he'd won a couple of times over hurdles.
He has improved in each of three runs over fences for his new trainer, going down a length behind Ashdale Flyer for Jessica Harrington at Wexford over this sort trip in August. The pair were clear, with subsequent Listed novice winner Speculatrix for Gordon Elliott in third.
First-time cheekpieces are deployed on Danny Gilligan's partner now and a big run could be incoming as the seven-year-old races outside of Ireland for the first time.
1.102m. 4f. 44yds. 14 Declared.
William Hill Each Way Extra Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 3 ) of £22,000.00 4-y-o plus
- Formscan
- Race Info
1st - €11,618.00 2nd - €5,346.00 3rd - €2,673.00 4th - €1,338.00 5th - €666.00 Going - Good-Good to Soft in places.
Formscan - CREST OF FORTUNE proved to be very consistent over hurdles, with his best run coming on his final start when third in the Sefton at Aintree, and the five-year-old appeals as the type to progress now sent chasing. Double Powerful completed a six-timer over the smaller obstacles here last November and continued to improve with a string of placed efforts in competitive handicaps. Newton Tornado is another with solid credentials on his first attempt over fences, while West Away and Zurich are respected most of the Irish challenge.
Odds Shortening 
Odds Lengthening
- Odds
4/1
4/1
7/2 12:49
4/1 4/1 12:50
4/1
4/1
13/8
4/1
6/4 7/2 10:36
3/1
5/1
7/2
7/2
7/2
7/2
3/1
4/1
13/8- Odds
9/1
8/1 12:138/1 9/1 10:305/1 8/1 10:24 16/5- Odds
11/2 11/2 11:1310/3 11/2 11:3010/3 5/1 11:12 15/2- Odds
9/2 7/2 12:4915/2 4/1 12:2012/1 15/2 25/1 14/1- Odds
10/1 10/1 12:1314/133/1 9/1 11:48 14/1- Odds
12/1 11/1 12:4914/1 12/1 11:5025/1 10/1 12:48 14/1 25/1- Odds
18/125/1 18/1 12:40100/1 14/1 10:00 66/1- Odds
40/1 33/1 12:2566/1 50/1 12:5040/1 33/1 12:122.20 - William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Chase - The Short Go
© Healy Racing Photos
Henry De Bromhead is facing into a new season minus the services of the now-retired Rachael Blackmore.
The Knockeen handler had come to lean on Darragh O'Keeffe more and more in recent times and now he's the top jockey at the Co Waterford yard.
The rider already has a handful of winners on his CV at this iconic course and will have his eyes on more Cotswolds success.
One of those winners was Senior Chief in this very race a year ago, with stablemate The Short Go completing a one-two for the yard under Jordan Gainford.
The latter also ran well when fifth in the Ultima back here in March and has been off since being pulled up in a four-miler at Punchestown in May.
He has won off a layoff before and is off the same mark he featured from at The Festival in March, with track and trip confirmed as positives.
2.203m. 1f. 18 Declared.
William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2 ) of £100,000.00 4-y-o plus
- Formscan
- Race Info
1st - €52,030.00 2nd - €23,920.00 3rd - €11,960.00 4th - €5,980.00 5th - €2,990.00 6th - €1,490.00 Going - Good-Good to Soft in places.
Formscan - Hyland enjoyed a solid first season over fences before finding the Grand National a step too far. Although he won on this card 12 months ago, the forecast rain and him possibly needing the run ahead of his potential first big target at Newbury next month temper enthusiasm. Rock My Way was runner-up in the National Hunt Chase when having Transmission behind in fifth and the pair are likely to make their presence felt, especially the former after a wind operation. The vote, though, goes to last year's runner-up THE SHORT GO. Things didn't quite go to plan after that, but his fifth in the Ultima was a fair effort considering his jumping let him down and the yard bids for a third consecutive victory in the contest.
Odds Shortening Odds Lengthening
4/1 18/1 13/2 9/1- Odds
8/1 8/1 14:139/1 15/2 11:2012/1 8/1 14:12 11/1- Odds
12/1- Odds
16/112/1 16/1 14:0066/1 16/1 14:01- Odds
18/120/166/1 12/1 13:25 20/1- Odds
25/1 25/1 14:1322/150/1 25/1 14:01- Odds
22/1 22/1 14:1325/1 25/1 14:1080/1 22/1 14:01 28/14.05 - William Hill Extra Places With BOG 'Chasing Excellence' Novices' Chase - Intense Approach
John McConnell is always a notable name on the racecard at this meeting and the Dublin-based trainer has plenty of runners again this year.
Intense Approach won a novice over hurdles on this card 12 months ago and will attempt to repeat the feat now over fences.
The Jack Hobbs gelding won 4-11 over timber but came up short in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett here in March.
He made his fencing debut at Galway (2m6½f, good) in the summer and it was a winning start, showing a pleasing attitude to prevail in a bunched finish ahead of Talk In The Park, Donnie Devito and What's Up Darling.
That trio have all advertised the form positively in their efforts since and Intense Approach is likely to have had this meeting marked on the calendar ever since his Ballybrit success.
4.053m. 1f. 7 Declared.
William Hill Extra Places With BOG 'Chasing Excellence' Novices' Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2 ) of £40,000.00 5-y-o plus
- Formscan
- Race Info
1st - €21,784.00 2nd - €10,036.00 3rd - €5,016.00 4th - €2,512.00 Going - Good-Good to Soft in places.
Formscan - Jockey bookings suggest that Pied Piper is probably the pick of Gordon Elliott's two entrants, while Galway winner Intense Approach and Baltic Bird enhance the possibility of an Irish-trained winner emerging. However, LEAVE OF ABSENCE looks a fair prospect for staying events in this discipline and the lightly-raced eight-year-old could be tough to deal with if replicating the dominant effort he posted at Newbury when last seen.
Odds Shortening Odds Lengthening |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  Open->Now | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | 5th | Intense Approach | 5/2 13/8 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 13/8 | 7/4 | 2/1 | 15/8 | 2/1 | 9/5 | 2/1 | 7/4 | 2/1 | 2/1 | 7/4 2/1 |
7 | 6th | Welcom To Cartries | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 13/2 | 3/1 | 7/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 9/2 4/1 | |
5 | 1st | Leave Of Absence | 4/1 | 9/2 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 7/2 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 9/2 | 9/2 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 9/2 | 7/2 | 9/2 | 7/2 | ||
6 | 3rd | Sporting Glory | 18/1 10/1 | 10/1 | 6/1 | 10/1 | 11/1 | 11/2 | 6/1 | 5/1 | 7/1 | 11/2 | 6/1 | 10/1 | 6/1 | 6/1 | 5/1 | 6/1 | 11/2 | 11/1 6/1 |
1 | 2nd | Pied Piper | 6/1 15/2 | 7/1 | 13/2 | 7/1 | 7/1 | 11/2 | 13/2 | 6/1 | 11/2 | 6/1 | 13/2 | 7/1 | 13/2 | 13/2 | 5/1 | 13/2 | 11/2 | |
2 | 4th | Anyway | 3/1 9/2 | 11/2 | 9/1 | 11/2 | 11/2 | 8/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 | 11/1 | 10/1 | 17/2 | 6/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 | 17/2 | 8/1 | 11/2 17/2 |
3 | 7th | Baltic Bird | 25/1 66/1 | 40/1 | 40/1 | 33/1 | 40/1 | 22/1 | 40/1 | 28/1 | 66/1 | 22/1 | 40/1 | 33/1 | 40/1 | 40/1 | 28/1 | 40/1 | 22/1 | |
| Betting Percentage | 113% | 112% | 113% | 112% | 122% | 117% | 119% | 114% | 112% | 117% | 112% | 122% | 112% | |||||||
| Each-Way Terms | 2 1/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 1/4 | 1 1/1 | 2 1/4 | 2 | 2 1/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 4 | 2 1/4 | 1 1/1 | |||||||
2/1 4/1 6/1- Odds
10/16/1 10/1 15:005/1 10/1 12:01- Odds
7/1 8/1 11:1313/2 15/2 15:406/1 8/1 11:24- Odds
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