The Skybet Chase over 3 miles on good to soft ground at Doncaster is our feature race today. It’s a pity there are just the 15 runners but if you shop around you will find some bookies paying out on the first 4 places like Skybet, Betfred & Totesport. Most likely a few others will join that list by the time this post goes live Saturday morning.
Le Reve (translation the dream) is one of my favourite chasers and looked back to something like his best when second to Kruzhlinin around Kempton 3 weeks ago. It was great to see him jump and travel well as his earlier two runs this season had been shockingly poor. It turns out he had a breathing issue.
Trainer Lucy Wadham says of her runner “He’s in good form, his last run was his first run back after a wind op and we think he’ll come on again”. This giant chaser has some cracking form from last season especially around Sandown like when he won a valuable 3 mile handicap chase in Jan 2015 and then finished 3rd not beaten far in the Bet365 Gold Cup despite running keenly.
We know Le Reve jumps well but his trainer has always said he is much better on a sound surface. The good to soft ground at Doncaster will suit him well & he carries a nice weight of just 10-13 thanks to Holywell running.
Interestingly Nico De Boinville has been booked to ride with regular pilot Leighton Aspell at Cheltenham to ride Grand National winner Many Clouds. That is a positive booking with Nico riding well and no doubt Le Reve will be primed to try win this 45k to the winner pot. His handicap mark of 146 is just 1lb higher than when he ran in the Bet365 Gold Cup.
Of the rest I thought Dolatulo & Holywell were interesting although the latter is priced up quite short on what he has achieved recently. Dolatulo was well fancied by connections in the abandoned Rowland Meyrick Chase at Wetherby over Christmas so they obviously feel his handicap mark is workable. However, Le Reve is the better horse and hopefully can go and prove it by winning today.
Doncaster 3:15 – Sky Bet Chase (Listed Handicap) 3m6y
Selection: 0.5 Point Each Way Le Reve (14/1 generally with some bookies paying 4 places)
Compare odds at http://www.oddschecker.com/horse-racing/2016-01-30-doncaster/15:15/winner
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Best of Luck,
Nicky