EG COMING TO THE BOIL
IT should pay to over Eg the Coral Cup (2.50) pudding.
EGLANTINE DU SEUIL cooked up a lastgasp victory in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle in last year’s Festival at monster odds of 50-1.
She’s a tasty 20-1 this time and recent history suggests she’s in with a great shout of landing this big-field handicap.
Look out for the following trends:
■ The last 12 winners had run no more than four times that season
■ Eight of the last 10 winners came from the top third in the weights
■ Second-season hurdlers have the best record
Willie Mullins has a magnificent seven gunning for glory so it must have been a nightmare tryinbg to shuffle his jockey pack.
Rachael Blackmore has picked up the ride on his Eglantine Du Seuil and that’s another positive.
After winning at last year’s Festival, Eglantine Du Seuil went on to finish third in Grade 1 contests at Fairyhouse and Punchestown behind top-class Honeysuckle and Reserve Tank.
This year she kicked off with a nice third behind stablemate Stormy Ireland before disappointing over Christmas. Both those races were small fields and she ran much better switched to a handicap at Leopardstown. The 2m trip was probably a bit sharp and everything looks in her favour today.
Have 2pts each-way at the generally-available 20-1.
The RSA Novices’ Chase (2.10) — unlike the Arkle — suits progressive chasers.
Runners who showed a high level of form over hurdles do not have a great record, so that counts against the likes of Grade 1 winners Champ and Minella Indo.
COPPERHEAD was a pretty ordinary novice hurdler last season and he was always going to make a better chaser.
Colin Tizzard’s hope bolted up in the Reynoldstown — a fair trial for this race — at Ascot last month to complete a hat-trick of impressive wins.
He stays really well and will have no problem with the soft ground, so have 2pts to win at 9-2 with William Hill and Unibet.