Racing For Rupert

[Bathtime For Rupert]

As the flat season draws towards a conclusion my mind starts to drift towards the national hunt campaign and that fills me with excitement! The thrills and spills will both infuriate and delight me I'm sure but I've always thought of myself as stronger when it comes to the jumps. The flat season hasn't been incredible for me, but not too bad really and I'm hoping I can end it on a high whilst starting this up at the same time. Cheltenham kicks off today and I feel it's a good starting point, albeit with just the one selection this afternoon. Tomorrow looks great though as well as Ascot so it could be a busy period looking at the cards! My staking is 1-5pts with 1pt being a pretty standard bet now (altered my approach somewhat) and 100pts is my starting bank. First bet coming up...

[Bathtime For Rupert]

Re: Jumps Time For Rupert 5.05 Cheltenham - 1pt win Monbeg Dude @ 20/1 (Bet365) Competitive event, this, but Michael Scudamore's charge is relatively lightly-raced and open to improvement at the age of seven. It's difficult to assess horses coming back after a summer break but this one has twice run well enough fresh and I'm hopeful he'll put in a big effort this afternoon. Always shaping as if a chaser, he did well to win on his debut in this sphere when clear with a thriving handicapper with much more experience in the field. Following that, my selection's effort at Newbury looks very strong when beaten 1/2l in 3rd in a competitive event such as this where the front three were 15l clear of the remainder (4th won twice since). He's only 5lbs higher for that which doesn't look beyond him and a bad blunder early on in the race at the same venue when we last saw him caused him to be pulled up and he can be forgiven for that. He has a top amateur jockey on board and I like prominent racers at Cheltenham in this type of event. I fancy him to put in a good stint from near the front and hopefully see them all off.