National Hunt Racing > Monday December 30th

[Aidymac]

Taunton 3:25 The Fergal O'Brien trained Hurricane Ivan looks a very interesting gelding running over 3 miles on his handicap debut tomorrow. The horse has run with no real zest on his three starts so far having gone off at prices of 50/1, 100/1 and 66/1. O'Brien is having a very good season this year and when it comes to landing a stunt with a well handicapped horse he is a good man to do so. The fact they are pricing the horse up at 7/1 shows that he has done this sort of thing in the past and looking through the rest of the field it is a terrible race standard wise. He is stepping down in grade also from Class 4 into Class 5 and Alain Cawley looks a good jockey booking after who has been on previously. Hurricane Ivan WIN @ 7/1 Bet365

[Blazing Bailey]

Re: National Hunt Racing > Monday December 30th Haydock 1.55 - Ballyoliver 15/2 Paddy Power I thought this horse ran a pretty decent race on his seasonal debut behind Standing Ovation. It looked like solid form at the time and the 2nd, 3rd and 7th have so far gone on to show improved performances since. His last run of last season at Cheltenham has also worked out pretty decent with several winners & placers coming from the race and looking a bit earlier in that season, he also had a couple of nice performances at Newbury at around this trip and several other on softer ground. He has not proven that he can handle both heavy ground and a marathon trip but the evidence so far suggests that it should not be a problem for him. His trainer/jockey combination are now in flying form and there is every chance he will prove to be well handicapped tomorrow.