HEAD BOY
Haggas star to turn up heat as Lingfield bids to beat big freeze
HEADWAY (nap) is a worthy favourite to give his rivals a chill in the Listed 32Red Spring Cup (3.30, ITV) at Lingfield.
With turf racing in Britain and Ireland wiped out by snow and ice, the Surrey venue welcomes the ITV cameras for four races – provided the Polytrack surface passes an inspection at 8am.
Headway makes his all-weather debut and he’s strongly fancied to make it a winning one.
The talented colt – trained by William Haggas (below) – landed a maiden at Chester last May then went for Royal Ascot’s Coventry Stakes at odds of 33-1 the following month. And Headway so nearly caused an upset, going under by a head to Rajasinghe. My selection ran below his best on soft ground when sixth of seven in the Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in August. But the form of Headway’s third in the Gimcrack Stakes at York 23 days later puts him bang in the mix for a successful return to the fray today.
THE Arctic conditions have seriously disrupted the weekend racing, which is terrible news even if it does mean I’ll have more money.
It’s in weather like this that I remember my elder brother and me sharing our sledge in a heartwarming show of fraternal love. He had it downhill, I had it uphill.
I also recall an old punter in the bookies urging me to back Nicky Henderson’s horses whenever snow had fallen.
His reasoning was that the all-weather gallop at Seven Barrows stables meant Henderson’s horses would, after a prolonged cold snap, strip fitter than most of his rivals who are stuck in a field with a carrot, a bucket of hay and a head lad who’s about 70.
In the absence of jump racing today I’m looking ahead to the Cheltenham Festival, where I think the best bet on offer is the 6-5 about Willie Mullins retaining his top trainer title.
It’s a three-way shoot-out between usual suspects Mullins, Henderson and Gordon Elliott — and it is Mullins who will prevail. This is a man who has already bagged 54 Festival firsts, been top trainer five times and will go to the Cotswolds with a string of 40 top-quality horses. He may not have as many nailed-on hotpots as usual but he’ll have chances in pretty much every race. Mullins is virtually guaranteed to have more early success than last year, when he failed to win a single race in the first two days. Getabird in the Supreme Novices’ and Footpad in the Arkle should get him off to a flyer. Min will be a real danger to Altior in the Champion Chase on day two while the trainer has a great record in the Champion Bumper, a race he’s won on eight occasions Meanwhile, Laurina looks like the banker of the entire meeting in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle on Thursday. Mullins won’t be odds against to be top trainer for too long.