Hunter Chase - 3.15 Catterick

[Darran]

After a blank week because of the weather we could have a really busy week as the Leicester hunter chase on Thursday looks like it might divide, there are two on Friday and we have one of the bigger hunter chases of the season on Saturday at Haydock.

It was good of Catterick to put on this extra hunter chase as they knew there would be demand for it and there is a big field. As per the races we have already seen though most of them have little chance. Wishing And Hoping was being touted as a possible Cheltenham horse last season especially after he won at Taunton, but connections wanted to wait a season as they thought he needed more experience plus they had Hazel Hill. He was 2nd to Alcala at Haydock a year ago and then bolted up in a weak race over course and distance in March. This season he was a comfortable winner at Maisemore and then was beaten at 1/3 at Chaddesley Corbett in December. I've got a feeling he under performed that day as even though he led Alex never looks that comfortable on him. Once passed by the winner he didn't find an awful lot and just kept on at the same pace. He is the most likely winner, but you wouldn't have thought Premier Magic would have been good enough to beat him last time so at odds on I will pass.

Haymount was well beaten by Shantou Flyer at Fakenham a year ago when 2nd, but Fakenham would not have suited him at all. This will be slightly more of a stiffer test, but Catterick is still pretty tight and that concerns me. He's 12 now and might just need this 1st time out.

Rio Bravo has not surprisingly been backed given he is another Bradley Gibbs trained runner and we know his horses are turning up very fit. He is a stablemate of the horse who beat Wishing And Hoping last time out and he does have plenty to find on form given he has only won up to Restricted level, albeit he won by 57L. He only ran once last season and was very disappointing when 3rd in an Intermediate in heavy ground. A bold showing would not surprise, but the evidence suggests the ground is not in his favour so that is enough for me to pass him over.

I will come back to the other in single figures, but those at massive odds don't really have any sort of appeal. Jenkins went off as a co favourite for the 2018 Betfair Hurdle but only finished 16th and its been pretty much downhill since. His only win was at 1/25 in a match with Sussex Road in October 2018. He was purchased for just £2.5k at the sales in October and it would be some training performance to get him anywhere near his best given what he had been showing. Greyed A didn't run too badly in a hunter chase at Perth in May 2019 and that would give him an outside chance of a place here, but he hasn't run since.

That leaves us with Duhallow Tornado who has been nibbled in the betting already. He was impressive when winning over course and distance in 2018 (the same race Wishing And Hoping won last year) and won another at Kelso before not being a huge fan of the quicker ground on hunter chase night at Cheltenham. Sadly he missed 2019 through injury, but returned last year with a win, before running as well as could have been hoped in the Foxhunter at Cheltenham. First time out this season he was beaten by Wishing And Hoping at Maisemore. They run here under the same weights and he has 3L to make up on him although the winner was eased down. What I will say though is he needs more of a stamina test and he will get that here. I thought he had a really good chance at Hexham back in November in a handicap, but he didn't run to form and finished in 5th. He is better than that and given the lack of depth in the race I think he looks a solid enough e/w bet. I will settle to 3 places, but with Betfair and Paddy Power going 4 places then that obviously will be worth taking if you can.

Duhallow Tornado 1pt e/w @ 6/1 with Bet365 (11/2 4 places with Betfair)

[Darran]

Wishing and hoping is now a non runner.