ROKS TO SHOCK
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ROKSANA CONCERTISTA INDEFATIGABLE
ROKSANA is better than ever at the age of nine and gets the vote to repeat her success of 2019.
Two years ago, Dan Skelton’s daughter of Dubai Destination needed the final-flight departure of Benie Des Dieux to get her hands on the prize.
But the evidence of this winter is that Roksana can come out on top without the need for misfortune to befall her rivals.
Although only fourth to Honeysuckle in defence of her crown last year, Roksana returned with a bang when beating Next Destination by eight lengths in the Grade 2 bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby in October.
Harry Skelton’s partner took on Paisley Park and Thyme Hill for the toplevel Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot six days before Christmas and emerged with tremendous credit in finishing third, a couple of lengths adrift of the two best staying hurdlers.
Roksana travelled with menace in beating Magic Of Light by eight lengths in Ascot’s Matchbook Betting Podcast Mares’ Hurdle on her latest start, and wouldn’t have been out of place in the Stayers’ Hurdle.
Concertista is a shortpriced favourite and will be no pushover, while Dame De Compagnie and Indefatigable also enter calculations.
The boss of Star Sports bookmakers would struggle to name a horse running at Cheltenham this week but that doesn’t stop him laying some of the biggest bets.
Despite having the potential for million-pound swings on the outcome of a photo finish, he admits he doesn’t even watch the races unfold.
Keith said: “I try not to watch the races. I go for a roll, I go for a wee, I go up to the box – why watch it? It’ll give me a heart attack. If I’m not watching I don’t get emotional. I just see it come through on the WhatsApp – win or lose a million quid.
“There’s a huge amount of pressure as a bookmaker. The more you get involved in the hype and ‘this is a good thing, that’s a good thing’ you might as well be a punter.
“I’ve had horses in the book that have been to lose over a million quid but I never remember the name of a horse. When a race is finished I’m not thinking about the last race, I’m head down and getting on with the next race.
“I try to dumb out feelings with thoughts. Feelings are about fear and thoughts are about reason.” It will be a very different Cheltenham Festival this year. For the first time the races will be run in front of empty stands and that means an empty betting ring. With no crowds, there will be no bookies.
Star Sports’ off-course trade is sure to be brisk but Keith admits he’ll miss being in the heart of the betting jungle.
He said: “I won’t miss the stress of being there but I’ll miss the camaraderie with other bookies.
“Cheltenham and Royal Ascot takes all the adrenaline. The commentator’s screaming, there’s massive liabilities on most races, oh my god it’s gone short in-running. By the end of it I’m just absolutely shattered.
“I like the atmosphere but, let’s be honest about it, there’s more attitude than there used to be.
“I think punters are so sort of radicalised of entitlement and dislike of bookmakers. It’s definitely become fashionable to vilify bookmakers.”
There’s unlikely to be any losing punters to harass an under-pressure bookie where Keith is planning to be when the top Festival prizes are being fought out in the Cotswolds.
He revealed: “I shall be walking around the park trying not to think about it, trying not to be stressed, trying to stay calm and trying not to take years off my life.”
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NEXT DESTINATION, once a smart hurdler, is now a smart chaser – and should thrive when tackling an extreme distance of ground.
During his time with Willie Mullins, the son of Dubai Destination won twice at the top level over timber, including when capturing the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2018.
Then followed an absence of 920 days before Next Destination, by now in the care of Paul Nicholls, chased home Roksana in
Wetherby’s bet365 Hurdle in October.
Nicholls sent the nineyear-old chasing and was thrilled by his recruit’s win from One For The Team in the John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury four weeks later.
Next Destination warmed up for Cheltenham by carrying a penalty to a length-and-a-half victory from Fiddlerontheroof in Warwick’s Hampton Novices’ Chase in January.
Harry Cobden’s mount jumps safely and grinds it out – two attributes that will serve him well here.
Irish challenger Galvin racked up a sequence for Gordon Elliott before moving back to his original trainer Ian Ferguson and goes into the melting pot, while Remastered also has a role to play.