It's become a bit of a cliche that John Ferguson's generally flat bred hurdlers are great at tearing it up on flat tracks again modest opponents and yet despite that Penglai Pavilion was odds-on for Friday's novice hurdle against a couple of promising opponents and when prices opened for today's Supreme trial that opens an excellent card at Cheltenham Maputo was favourite over Altior. Some bets just seem obvious as soon as a list of prices are perused and this is one of them. Henderson's charge had nothing to beat when opening his account for the season at Chepstow last month and I was more impressed at his effort at Ascot later in that month when he and one rival pulled 20 lengths clear of a half decent field of novices. There's one or two well thought of rivals in the race today who I expect to be harder to beat than Maputo (form is all on fast ground) but my bet today is one that didn't require a huge amount of analysis. That 3/1 was just too big and I later topped up at 11/4.
I've also taken 3/1 about Simply Ned in the Shloer Chase. Sprinter Sacre is suited by the conditions of this race as he receives weight from most of his opponents but he's looked a shadow of the magnificent chaser he was and needs to be opposed at his cramped odds. The selection ran a super race in this last year, an edition that worked out really well, and he's the obvious alternative given Somersby's age and Mr Mole's penalty and lack of form at the track.
Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle:
Altior £50w
@ 285/10 (won) (rule4)
Shloer Chase:
Simply Ned £40w @ 3/1 (lost)
(+297)
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