Well, well, well Mr. Barney Curley is alive and well! And doing what he does best, taking the bookies to the cleaners. Four horses, all with connections to the former trainer/gambler, all backed off the boards from highs of 20/1 into evens and odds on. Four winners. Bookies bags were emptied to the tune €18m it has been reported in places. It is great to see it happen now and again.We will hardly scale such heady heights in this column this weekend, but we can dream. A great weekends racing, and the Cheltenham picture should be a lot clearer by Sunday night. We have Rock on Ruby, Annie Power and Hurricane fly all running this weekend, just sit back and enjoy those as they will not be backable prices for us students! Instead I will try find us some value in some of the trickier races!
3.15 Doncaster Sky Bet Chase
Taking a bit of a chance in this one but seems like value to me at the price. Time for Rupert is my selection, and has his 1st run in a handicap here off a mark of 143. I feel this is a reasonable mark for a horse that has been 5th in the Gold Cup and RSA. He has had some health problems to overcome and the National is the main aim for the season but I think at 16/1 here he is the value in the race.
Bet - Time For Rupert @ 16/1
This one revolves around the return of the all conquering Big Bucks, winner of his last 18 races. I think there is a bit of value in taking him on here with Boston Bob. He stays all day and back over hurdles is worth a cheeky few quid at 5/1 to see if there are any chinks in Big Bucks armour.
Bet - Boston Bob @ 5/1
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3.00 Cheltenham Classic Novices Hurdle
Red Sherlock will go off favourite here and is undefeated in 5 runs to date. Again however, I will be taking on the "good thing". Nick Williams has his horses in great order and runs Aubusson here. This horse won well at Cheltenham on New Years day, beating some well fancied types such as Ballyalton and racing pulse. 7/1 here screams value to me and I shall be gobbling that up!
Bet - Aubusson @ 7/1
3.25 Leopardstown Boylesports Handicap Hurdle
An easy 24 runner handicap to finish. There are 2 to concentrate on here in my opinion and those are Quick Jack and Sealight. They are trained respectively by Tony Martin and Charles Byrnes. While not quite Barney Curley, these are two men who know how to lay one out for a big handicap prize. I'm inclined to side with Quick Jack here as he won so easily last time at Cheltenham and is less exposed. Don't be surprised if he wins here and is favourite in one of the handicaps come March also.
Bet - Quick Jack
A €1 Lucky 15 pays a cheeky €4,250. This time next year Rodney…..
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