Super Saturday - 9th Feb

Two exciting cards on both sides of the Irish Sea tomorrow with Cheltenham Festival clues aplenty.

At Leopardstown Flemenstar takes on Sir Des Champs again and I expect his class to tell this time. He was restrained excessively in the Lexus where his jumping ability wasn't taken advantage of and I'd like to see him allowed to just get on with it tomorrow. That said I have no confidence in his staying the Gold Cup trip and would like to see him take on Sprinter Sacre in March.
Boston Bob runs in the PJ Moriarty Novice Chase and I have to hope he wins well and confirms himself a proper challenger to Dynaste in the RSA. Bob was workmanlike in winning his first chase outing a while back but the ground was desperate that day and he did jump well in the main. The RSA looks weak this season and a good run tomorrow would make him 7/2 ish. Fingers crossed.

At Newbury the Denman and Game Spirit Chases have cut up with Long Run and Simonsig being pulled out of them but the Betfair Hurdle is the best contest on the card and the one that contains my sole bet of the day. Normally I'd be against a 9/2 shot in a race with so many runners but My Tent or Yours made such an impression last time out at Huntingdon with his appearance, jumping and just the general presence he has about him that he immediately went into the notebook and although the Supreme Novices isn't one of my favourites at the Festival I took a price about him for it after this performance. As for this tomorrow, I think there are plenty of humdrum animals in opposition with not a lot to recommend them - Cotton Mill surely needs further and better ground and has yet to run this campaign - Pearl Swan doesn't seem to have a great deal of form and is priced up on trainer identity - Cause of Causes has gone up 10lbs since his win in the Ladbroke - the Greatwood (now Racing Post Hurdle) looked sub standard so put a line though all the contenders who ran in that - Swing Bowler's form is all at gaff racks. You get the picture. If the selection gets round he wins or goes close.

Lastly, the Bumper that closes the card is a cracker and I'm hoping for a nice run from Pure Science who looked an animal of some promise when winning his first ever contest a few weeks ago at Warwick. He's well bred and ran slightly green in that race so I expect a fair bit of improvement. I'm pleased the trainer is getting another run into him before the Champion Bumper at the Festival for which he is backable at 16/1 or thereabouts.

Betfair Hurdle:
My Tent or Yours £25ew @ 9/2 (won)

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