Tag Archive for: Fergal O’Brien

Crambo hits back of the net for O’Brien in EBF Final

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Crambo came out on top after a pulsating finish to the EBF Final at Sandown.

A dual bumper winner at Huntingdon last season, Fergal O’Brien’s charge picked up where he left off when making a successful hurdling debut at Ascot in November.

The six-year-old was pulled up in the Grade One Challow Hurdle at Newbury on New Year’s Eve, but a subsequent wind operation appeared to do the trick as he comfortably bounced back to winning ways at Bangor last month to earn himself another step up in grade in this £80,000 novices’ handicap.

Ridden positively from flag-fall by Connor Brace, Crambo disputed the early running before moving into a clear lead heading out onto the second circuit.

The 15-2 chance looked like he might have to make do with minor honours after being challenged and passed by Inneston early in the home straight, but Brace never panicked and his mount rallied bravely on the run-in to get back up and score by half a length.

O’Brien said: “Connor gets on very well with the horse and we’ve never got to the bottom of him.

“Even when the horse passed him today, we hadn’t given up as we knew he’d dig in. He did it Ascot, where he had to grind it out and won cosily in the end, and at Bangor the other day it was the same.

“I wouldn’t say he won cosily today, but he got the job done under a very good, positive ride. I’m delighted for Connor as he deserves his chance and he’s taken it today.

“I’ll have to speak to the owners and we’ll make a plan. I think the ground is important to him – he wouldn’t want it quick. There’s probably something at Aintree for him if it came up soft enough.”

Larchmont Lass and Harry Cobden at Sandown
Larchmont Lass and Harry Cobden at Sandown (Steven Paston/PA)

Larchmont Lass lunged late to secure Listed honours in the British Stallion Studs EBF Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.

Previously placed at Ascot and Wincanton, the Paul Nicholls-trained five-year-old was a 9-2 shot stepping up in class in the hands of Harry Cobden.

Casa No Mento battled bravely in front in an attempt to preserve her unbeaten record, but she was unable to resist the thrust of Larchmont Lass, with a neck separating the pair at the line.

Nicholls, like Cobden completing a double following the Imperial Cup victory of Iceo, said of Larchmont Lass: “She’s not been easy as she’s been very keen. We put a hood on her today for the first time, just to try and get her to settle, which she did.

“Turning into the straight I thought we’d given her plenty to do, but Harry felt they were always coming back to him and she got up on the line.

“She’s had three runs and she’ll go out now (for a summer break). She’ll be a lovely novice hurdler next year. A lovely summer will do her the world of good.”

Gary Moore’s Spirit D’Aunou was all out to justify odds-on favouritism in the Racing Only Bettor Podcast Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

A narrowly beaten second on his Kempton debut, the four-year-old had since struck gold at Huntingdon and Ludlow and was the 5-6 favourite to complete his hat-trick under the trainer’s son Jamie.

Spirit D'Aunou (left) and Jamie Moore won the opening race at Sandown
Spirit D’Aunou (left) and Jamie Moore won the opening race at Sandown (Steven Paston/PA)

Havaila came at him hard racing up the hill, but Spirit D’Aunou stuck to his guns to prevail by half a length.

“He was a four-year-old carrying a lot of weight out there so it wasn’t going to be easy for him,” said Moore senior.

“I didn’t know if this horse would go in the ground or not or not, but he is a very genuine horse and I like him a lot.

“He is still a baby learning and he is going to improve with racing and time. I’d like to think he would go to Ascot in early April for that juvenile handicap hurdle there.”

The Moores doubled up with Hudson De Grugy (11-4) in the Betfair Daily Multiples Offer At Cheltenham Novices’ Handicap Chase – and made it a treble on the afternoon in the concluding Daily Tips On Betting.Betfair.com Handicap Chase with 9-1 shot Zhiguli.

Hullnback aiming for Aintree honours

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Fergal O’Brien believes top novice hurdler Hullnback would struggle to handle the hustle and bustle of the Cheltenham Festival.

Connections of the six-year-old have therefore decided to bypass the meeting in favour of a return to Aintree, the scene of his runner-up effort in a Grade Two bumper at the Grand National meeting last April.

Hullnback has looked a smart hurdling prospect in each of his three attempts this term, finishing runner-up to Pikar at Chepstow in October and twice winning subsequently.

His defeat of Nemean Lion at Haydock the following month was franked when Kerry Lee’s runner was placed in the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle, and having justified odds of 2-5 at Warwick with ease off a 73-day break last time, O’Brien feels the potential must be nurtured.

“We just feel that Cheltenham would absolutely blow his mind,” said the in-form Withington handler.

“He’s a lovely young horse. He had good form round Aintree last year and he ran well the other day.

“As far as we are concerned, he has his whole career ahead of him, but mentally he is not ready for Cheltenham.”

O’Brien looks set to pit his charge against top-class opposition at Aintree, planning to give him entries in both the Top Novices’ Hurdle and the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.

He added: “The plan is to go to Aintree. He’ll be put in the two and two-and-a-half-miler. Paddy (Brennan, jockey) and the boys are favouring the two-miler. We’ll enter him in both and see which one he’d have his best chance in.

Hullnback (middle) finished behind Lookaway at Aintree
Hullnback (middle) finished behind Lookaway at Aintree (David Davies/PA)

“We just felt that, all things being equal, there were more negatives than positives to go to Cheltenham.

“He’s young and he’s so very raw it’s not true. I would love to go to Cheltenham and both his owners wanted to go to Cheltenham, but in fairness they left it to myself and Paddy.

“We just felt, to give the horse the best chance going forward, Aintree was better for him.

“We know what we’ve got. When he gets on a lorry and gets to the track, he just turns into a thug.

“We thought Cheltenham in March would be like a cauldron for him to boil over. He could have run his race by the time he got to the bottom of the chute.

“Aintree is shorter walk from the parade ring to the track and he knows it, as he’s been there last year.

“If you saw him at home, you’d think he was a little pet. He loves attention, but he definitely has a bite to him.”

Dysart Enos floors Queens Gamble in smart Market Rasen bumper

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Dysart Enos reeled in the previously unbeaten Queens Gamble to land the Alan Swinbank Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race in good style at Market Rasen.

Sent off the 3-1 second-favourite to claim the scalp of Oliver Sherwood’s 8-11 favourite, the Fergal O’Brien-trained daughter of Malinas was well covered up in rear by Paddy Brennan in the early stages of the Listed event.

Queens Gamble, who was well touted for the Champion Bumper prior this contest, travelled powerfully in the hands of Jonathan Burke and breezed past the pace-setter Woogrey rounding the turn for home.

Burke soon pressed the accelerator and Queens Gamble’s turn of foot saw her burst clear up the Market Rasen home straight.

But her stride was shortening as the line approached at the same time Brennan was hitting top gear aboard Dysart Enos and it was only a matter of time before the five-year-old gained the upper hand.

An impressive winner at Ludlow prior to her trip to Lincolnshire, she returned a going away one-length verdict and was handed a quote of 10-1 by Paddy Power to now seek Grade One glory at the Cheltenham Festival.

O’Brien, though, was quick to rule the Festival out.

He said: “I thought we’d come and finish second to her (Queens Gamble), I spoke to Oliver on Sunday morning as I wanted Connor (Brace) to come and ride her and Paddy to go to Taunton. He’s 41 and he insisted on coming here because these are the horses he wants to ride.

“He said he got a bump just as they turned into the home straight and got pushed a bit sideways, but all the way down the straight she just had her head down and was trying. He never picked his stick up on her and he got to the road crossing and thought she was travelling, he always felt he was getting the leader and he had something to aim at.

“Paddy’s ridden so many bumper winners for us here, just like that. He rides this place so well, he knows it so well.”

He added: “She was fantastic, we’ve got her ready three times for this race three times now and each time we’ve had to back off her, but it’s the same for them all.

“Queens Gamble is still a fantastic mare and I genuinely thought we couldn’t beat her, we had a line drawn through her because of Bonttay – Bonttay’s very good and we didn’t think this mare was as good as her but we might have to reconsider that!

“One hundred per cent, Aintree. We won’t even enter at Cheltenham because people get tempted. It was always the plan with her, if she came here and finished second or third we’d go to Aintree. That’s been her season.

“She’s 16.2(hands), she’ll jump a hurdle, she’ll jump a fence, she’s so exciting.”

Queens Gamble is still on track for Cheltenham
Queens Gamble is still on track for Cheltenham (David Davies/Jockey Club)

For his part, Sherwood was gracious in defeat – and not giving up on a Cheltenham bid.

He said: “I hate being beat, she was always the one I feared. It was always going to happen one day, that we would get beat, but I’d rather get beat here and win at Cheltenham.

“I’m not going to be deterred from going to Cheltenham, we know she’s better at Cheltenham and she hasn’t run to her form. Giving 4lb, I suppose it was a dead-heat.

“The one thing today was that she probably ran a little bit with the choke out because Johnny said there was no pace. It’s all part of her education and she’s gone down fighting, it was going to happen at some stage.

“It’s always gutting to get beaten when you’ve got an odds-on shot, but it is what it is. She’s still a good mare, you don’t become a bad horse overnight. I still think that we’re OK, as long as the weather is kind to us, we’ll still go the Cheltenham and have a crack at it. We’ve got nothing to lose.

“We know she gallops all the way to the line, he’s (Burke) now a bit annoyed and thinks he should have held on to her and kicked. The one thing with Cheltenham is you’ll get a true-run race, they’ll go end to end and it’ll suit her down to the ground.”

Greyval strikes Doncaster Listed gold

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Greyval executed a long-held plan when turning the tables on the favourite Arclight in the Sky Bet Fillies’ Juvenile Hurdle at Doncaster.

Fergal O’Brien’s daughter of The Grey Gatsby, a €36,000 buy from France, had finished second behind Arclight on her debut over course and distance in December, leaving her with a length and three-quarters to find.

Since then the favourite had enjoyed a procession around Kempton while Greyval (11-4) had been fine-tuned at home, and it clearly paid off.

There was all to play for on the run to the second last when Paddy Brennan, in search of better ground, took an acute inside course before he swerved back on the track proper.

That caused a concertina effect, as Nico De Boinville brought Arclight to challenge from the other side of the track. Caught in the middle was Jessica Harrington’s Komedy Kicks, who ended up falling and bringing down Inspiratrice.

Thankfully all horses and jockeys walked away uninjured as Greyval ran out a two-length winner, but Brennan picked up a six-day ban (February 10-15 inclusive) for the manoeuvre.

“She came from France and I thought it was going to be a disaster as Nick (Brown, syndicate manager) kept talking her up!” said O’Brien.

Greyval had lots of owners on course to cheer her home
Greyval had lots of owners on course to cheer her home (Nick Robson/PA)

“She’s been lovely, was second the last day and Paddy gave her a great ride.

“She’s in the Triumph and it might be hard to talk them out of not going there, we’ll speak to everyone and see.”

Brown said: “We had the third in this race two years ago and when we got her, I knew this was the race I wanted to run her in.

“We put her in the Triumph because if she won and got a quote, we’d look silly not being in, but I don’t like social runners, so I doubt it. There is the mares’ option there (Cheltenham) though, and that might be better.”

Peter Niven has always thought the world of Malystic and the nine-year-old is now beginning to repay that faith.

Carrying top weight in the £50,000 Sky Bet-sponsored two-mile handicap chase, the Danny McMenamin-ridden 12-1 shot saw off the challenge of Before Midnight before the favourite Saint Segal lunged late, going down by half a length.

Home bred, his dam is a half-sister to Niven’s last top-class horse, Clever Cookie.

“He’s always been a proper horse but last year was a disaster, his first year out of novices, so he never got any experience,” said Niven.

“He didn’t even get to finish his hurdle year because of Covid, so he’s very inexperienced, he also picked up a nasty infection last season.

“He’ll be close to 150 (official rating) after that. The only conditions race for him coming up is the Game Spirit (Newbury, February 5), but that’s a bit soon. Maybe if some of those at Cheltenham tomorrow don’t go, we’ll have a look.”

Looking to the future, he added: “Other than that, there’s the Red Rum at Aintree. I’m not keen on Cheltenham because he didn’t like the razzmatazz when he last went, but then the Red Rum is National day. Maybe the Celebration Chase at Sandown, which might suit him.”

Parramount (1-2 favourite), a half-brother to Becher Chase winner Snow Leopardess, had little trouble in landing the odds in the Sky Bet UKs No.1 Betting App Novices’ Hurdle.

Charlie Longsdon’s seven-year-old was ridden to victory by 7lb conditional Bradley Roberts, who guided him to a 21-length success under a penalty.

Paramount and Bradley Roberts return
Paramount and Bradley Roberts return (Nick Robson/PA)

Longsdon said: “It’s nice after a freeze-up that they have come back in good form.

“Bradley rides all right, doesn’t he? He apologised for looking around so much, but it was a hard race to ride with one going off a hundred miles an hour, and then the others were 10 lengths behind ours, so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“He’s EBF qualified, so the Final at Sandown will be his aim. I’ll run him in a handicap somewhere before then. He’s 115 now, so who knows what the handicapper will do?”

Lucy Wadham struck for the second time in two days as Will Sting (9-1) came home a clear-cut winner of the Betting Better With Sky Bet Novices’ Handicap Chase under Tom Cannon.

“It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for me, so it’s nice to get a winner before Edwardstone tomorrow,” said Cannon, who will partner Alan King’s Arkle winner in the feature race at Cheltenham, the Grade One Albert Bartlett Clarence House Chase.

Storminhome with winning connections
Storminhome with winning connections (Nick Robson/PA)

Ben Pauling continued his good recent form when Storminhome (11-8 favourite) opened his account at the third time of asking in the Sky Bet EBF “National Hunt” Maiden Hurdle.

“He’s got some fancy entries (at Cheltenham), whether he takes them up I don’t know, but he’s a lovely horse for the future,” said Pauling.

Stat of the Day, 13th February 2020

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Wednesday's pick was...

2.20 Southwell : Liamba @ 9/2 BOG 4th at 6/1 (Led, headed over 3f out, weakened over 1f out)

Thursday's pick runs in the...

3.00 Leicester :

Before I post the daily selection, just a quick reminder of how I operate the service. Generally, I'll identify and share the selection between 8.00am and 8.15am and I then add a more detailed write-up later within an hour of going "live".

Those happy to take the early price on trust can do so, whilst some might prefer to wait for my reasoning. As I fit the early service in around my family life, I can't give an exact timing on the posts, so I suggest you follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook for instant notifications of a published pick.

Who?

Troubled Soul @ 10/3 BOG

...in an 8-runner, Class 4, Handicap Chase for 5yo+ over 2m7f on Soft ground worth £6,758 to the winner...

Why?...

This 11 yr old mare is a consistent/hardy sort and that might be all that's needed here. She recorded six consecutive top 3 finishes prior to struggling under a 3lb claimer last time out. Regular jockey Paddy Brennan is back in the saddle today and with a 2lb easing of her mark, I'd expect more from her today.

She's Fergal O'Brien's only runner of the day and he's 6 from 24 (25% SR) for 40.9pts (+163.6% ROI) in handicap chases here at Leicester since the start of 2015, including of relevance today...

  • 6/22 (27.3%) for 43.9pts (+199.5%) in races worth £4-10k
  • 6/14 (42.9%) for 51.9pts (+370.5%) with runners returning from 3 to 8 weeks rest
  • 4/13 (30.8%) for 43.2pts (+332.2%) over trips of 2m6.5f to 2m7.5f
  • 4/13 (30.8%) for 33.1pts (+254.3%) with Paddy Brennan in the saddle
  • and 2/6 (33.3%) for 10.9pts (+182.1%) on Soft ground

...whilst those competing for £4-10k after 3-8 weeks rest are 6/13 (46.2% SR) for 52.9pts (+406.7% ROI), from which...

  • Paddy Brennan is 4/7 (57.1%) for 39.1pts (+557.8%)
  • those racing over 2m6.5f to 2m7.5f are 4/6 (66.6%) for 50.2pts (+836.6%)
  • and on soft ground : 2/5 (40%) for 11.9pts (+238.5%)

Meanwhile, more generally, Fergal O'Brien's handicap chasers sent off at odds ranging from 2/1 to 11/1 during February to April inclusive are 16 from 80 (20% SR) for 35.8pts (+44.7% ROI) since Feb 1st 2016, including...

  • 11/53 (20.8%) for 34.4pts (+64.8%) after 16-60 days off track
  • 11/46 (23.9%) for 30pts (+65.2%) under Paddy Brennan
  • 8/41 (19.5%) for 27.7pts (+67.6%) over 2m6.5f to 3m2f
  • and 8/35 (22.9%) for 23.5pts (+67.2%) from Fergal's only runner at the track that day...

...and there has been 8 horses that, like today's pick, tick all four of the above boxes and they have yielded 3 winners (37.5% SR) and 15.7pts (+196.4% ROI) profit including one from one here at Leicester...

...pointing towards...a 1pt win bet on Troubled Soul @ 10/3 BOG as was available from BetVictor & Hills at 8.00am Thursday with plenty of 3/1 elsewhere, but as always please check your BOG status. To see what your preferred bookie is quoting...

...click here for the betting on the 3.00 Leicester

Don't forget, we offer a full interactive racecard service every day!

REMINDER: THERE IS NO STAT OF THE DAY ON SUNDAYS

Here is today's racecard

P.S. all P/L returns quoted in the stats above are to Betfair SP, as I NEVER bet to ISP and neither should you. I always use BOG bookies for SotD, wherever possible, but I use BFSP for the stats as it is the nearest approximation I can give, so I actually expect to beat the returns I use to support my picks. If that's unclear, please ask!