The Neighsayers

Weekly Eye-Catchers 24 th   – 30 th   April 2023   26 th  April – 3:25 Catterick    Clear White Light    Very well backed from big prices into single figures, never picked up the bridle for the whole trip, stayed on very well from miles back, maybe some headgear to spark him up. Will be looking to back him next time over 1m4f+.   26 th  April – 5:40 Lingfield   Inverlochy    Slow away veered violently right, held up, travelled strongly, ridden for luck, and stayed on very well into a never nearer 4 th . Keen to have onside NTO    27 th  April – 1:50 Beverley    Hooray For Hazel    Fine stamp of a 2yo, looked very green with awkward head carriage early, outpaced over 5f but ran on nicely under tender handling. Will have come on massively for his debut, looks a horse to follow when stepping up in trip    27 th  April - 8:00 Chelmsford   Protest Rally    Dwelt s...

The Sky Bet Sunday Series returns this weekend and it begins north of the border at Musselburgh. Last year it was some of the most competitive racing we got to see on the calendar and this year promises to be much the same. So @racing_lew has put together his thoughts on his selections for the card. (All horses will be based on ISP for no overnight price wankering) 15:45 - 3YO Sprint Apprentice Handicap No prizes for originally here but I’m very strong on JER BATT . This will be his first run on turf for new connections, who do unbelievably well with these types (Zarzyni, Venterous) and the horses running style should suit Musselburgh perfectly. As we saw with the opening meeting of the season here, it paid to be on the front end. JER BATT is the only real pace angle in the race, which should leave him to have a freebie on the front. He’s accompanied by the best apprentice in the field too, the wonder kid, Billy Loughnane. He can still claim 3lb here too, which is more than some of the...

 In what's the final major festival of the National Hunt season, @elliotwhite5 has given his thoughts on day 1 of the festival and is hoping to follow on his form from Aintree. 16:15 KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle 2m It isn’t a very SHROOD call, but I think FACILE VEGA will take all the beating here. I wasn’t really a fan of his going into the supreme where he was a good second to the exciting MARINE NATIONALE. I think if Paul had the ride again he’d hold on to him a little longer and although I don’t think he’d have beaten the winner he’d have beat the rest even further. The form of the race has worked out fairly well with the 4th INTHEPOCKET taking the top novices at Aintree 2 weeks ago. The 3rd and 5th from the supreme DIVERGE and IL ETAIT TEMPS reoppose here but I would be very confident Facile Vega would confirm the form. I personally thought he’d be more of a 4/9 1/2 shot after the declarations so the 4/6 on offer will do for me. Selection -Facile Vega ( 4/6 William Hill, 8/13 G...

Weekly Eye-Catchers 17 th   – 23 rd   April 2023 17 th  April – 1:15 Redcar    Mistress Teite    Ran very well on debut for a yard who’s 2yo's don't really fire till handicaps. Held up, pushed into the race late and ran on very well to take 3 rd . A great education for a 2yo, who should have the ability to win NTO.   17 th  April – 1:50 Redcar   Mutanaaseq   Well backed on the day and I can understand why, travelled very well into the race, impeded on the rail jockey had to stop riding for multiple strides, ran on under tender handling. Stones below last winning mark so should be winning races this flat season over 7f.   17 th  April – 4:10 Redcar   Cantora    One of the more obvious eyecatchers for the week. Travelled strongly, got no luck in running had to weave in and out of beaten horses, got the gaps late but couldn’t run down the front runner. Granted better luck in running should be going in next time...

This is just a short Blog Highlighting a couple if ante-post bets I’ve had for a couple of the top races to look forward to this coming flat Season.  American Flag - French 2000 Guineas  (6/1 - 365 & Sky Bet )   14/05/2023 The first one I’ve backed is a horse I have been visually impressed with over the Channel. American Flag has shaped very impressively in his 2 3yo wins this campaign. His first win was in the Prix Omnium II, where he was visually eyecatching before hand and came at a canter from behind to quickly put the race to bed, beating Kendley by 3L.  He then lined up in the Prix De Fontainebleau, typically seen as the 2000 Guineas trial in France. He opened a rather large looking 10/3 that day and was heavily backed into 9/10 Fav just before the race. The time on the clock was pretty impressive on the going, and he looked to had came on leaps and bounds from his previous win, easily dispatching another horse at the top of the market, Rajapour, a general ...

Although the flat season officially started just over two weeks ago, however it feels like the Craven meeting is the unofficial start amongst punters. This week the excitement will begin to build around the classics and the ante-post markets will be influenced by the results. Punters will be itching to get on the right side of the market movers in what is a week that begins full of hope. The Neighsayers are putting their heads together to provide our insight on the main races and any other business across the 3 day meeting. Away from the midweek meeting, the week cumulates at Newbury with the Greenham and the Fred Darling, the trial races for the 2000 and 1000 guineas respectively. With all that being said, we're off handicapping this week. Tuesday - 14.25 - Rebel Territory (11/2 Hills, Betfair, Paddy) I’m taking a chance on Rebel Territory in the national stud handicap. The Amanda Perrett trained horse has spent its career over the straight mile and Tuesday will see its first atte...

Weekly Eye-Catchers 9 th  – 16 th  April 2023   9 th  April - Redcar 3:26     Tarbat Ness    Looked a completely different horse mainly due to the aid of first-time headgear, travelled so well through nutritional ground, just failing to pick up the winner who got first run and made all. Will look to back in low grade 1m6-2m handicaps, softer the ground the better.   9 th  April - Kempton – 2:20    Ponga    Keen to post and showed coltish tendencies in the prelims but ran a very good race on debut showing plenty of speed, only being edged out by a fancied Archie Watson horse. Showed more than enough to win a maiden NTO.   9 th  April - Redcar 4:01    It Just Takes Time    Travelled enthusiastically on a wing down the middle of the course, looked to be coming with a good run but weakened out of things. Will come on tones for that run, giving connections a better chance of winning the Y...

The flat turf season has been very uninspiring so far and that feeling was enhanced by the viewing at Leicester today. If it was too wet for them to use starting stalls, should they really have been running? It was a front runners paradise and there was some wide margin wins, along with slow times which made it the eye-sore it was. @racing_lew is going to provide us with 3 for Saturday on the flat. 14:45 Yarmouth Natzor , hailing from the Archie Watson yard who have started the official flat season on fire, they're 9-28 (32%) in the first two weeks of the flat season and that good form should continue here. On the dam side, there's not much to go on, as to whether he will act on the ground or not, he's by Almanzor who really is coming into his own a sire, he won on soft ground so we should be fine here. Watson has a positive record at Yarmouth, he's 10-53 all time (18.9), although only has an A/E of 0.79 here. His debut was nice enough, he was prominent there which may ...

Following on from Zenta and Famous Clermont winning on Thursday, @lukeblack85 is back with 2 selections on Friday, hoping to follow suit. 2:20 William Hill Handicap Hurdle - (Premier Handicap) The 2:20 is an ultra competitive handicap with various strands of Cheltenham form being represented. Camprond (13/2) could have won the Coral Cup on another day and rightfully takes his place at the head of the market despite a 5lb rise. On this occasion he had the second favourite for this race Captain Conby (8/1) and fellow re-opposer Good Risk at All (14/1) well beaten in 6th and 7th respectively. Dargiannini (10/1) has progressed nicely to win 2 handicaps at Uttoxeter and Newbury in impressive fashion and will look to provide Harry Derham with a breakthrough winner in his fledgling training career.  The Martin Pipe 2nd and 3rd represent that particular form-line in the shape of No Ordinary Joe (10/1) and Buddy One (10/1), both unexposed types who connections will hope should have more to ...

The 2023 Grand National Preview    Marred by woke, bigoted pressure groups, the build-up for this year’s Aintree festival has been anything but distorted, with the race being overshadowed by prejudice outsiders who clearly don’t understand the sport of Horse Racing. If racing was to be stopped, what would happen to the 10's of thousands of thoroughbred horses around the world? Left in a field, with much worse living circumstances they currently have. The race is arguably the centrepiece of the UK National Hunt calendar, a race what every NH owner/trainer dreams of winning, and a rare moment in the year where every household in the country stops to tune into our great sport.    The Grand National is a unique test of the equine racehorse and horseman, 30 flights of fences over a stamina ladened 4m 2f, it takes a gritty partnership in order to be a Grand National Winner. We will be looking in depth at 4 horses what The Neighsayers  think will be best suited to...

Thursday 1:45-Manifesto Novices Chase 2m4f I’ll very much be on weather watch here for Joseph O’Brien’s BANBRIDGE , with connections wanting to wait until as late as possible to make their decision I’m at risk of putting up a non runner here.  But if the rain doesn’t get into the ground too much and they take their chance then I believe he will be very hard to beat. Stage Star pinched the turners for me and I don’t think he’ll get as much rope as he did on the front end last time out. I would have BANDRIDGE’s second in the Irish Arkle as the best piece of form on offer in this race and he’ll also be coming here a fresher horse.  Saint Roi also ran the Irish Arkle but unseated too early to know how he’d have faired before finishing a distant third in the Arkle behind El Fabiolo. I’m not convinced about him stepping up in trip and I see BANBRIDGE outstaying him. Selection - BANBRIDGE 7/4 William Hill - 13/8 General Friday 2:55 - Top Novices Hurdle 2m I don’t think this is a ve...

Weekly Eye-Catchers from April 1 st - 8 th  April 2023   Doncaster 1 st  April – 1:50 5f Brocklesby Stakes   Tees Douge    Ran much better than his finishing position of 11 th  suggests, missed the break, rushed up prominent, showed lots of speed but the soft ground blunted his finishing kick, and he weakened out of things. Got a very good AW pedigree so would be betting him over 5-6f on any AW track, may wait for nurseries. Entered at Southwell, Sunday 9 th  April.   Doncaster 1 st  April – 2:25 1m Spring Mile    Warning Sign    Raced far side for a large majority of the race, kicked clear of those drawn around him with ease, but couldn’t make an impact in the race due to major track bias. Ran very well in the circumstances, will be backing over 1m with a more experienced jockey in the plate.   Doncaster 1 st  April – 3:00 6f Cammidge Trophy Stakes   Ehraz   Ran a very good race on ground what I t...

Good Friday Tips  The Easter weekend is always one that promises to be a cracker and ARC haven't let us down this year again, they've put on some excellent racing for some very fair prize money, so it's no surprise that the horses have turned up. Let's just hope the fans do too. We'll be off to Newcastle on Friday which is now seemingly tradition for The Neighsayers and we hope to land on a few winners across the cards and hopefully provide some insightful information too. So, let's get into the selections. 1:30 Lingfield – 1m 4f  BetUK All-weather Vase Apprentice Handicap    A competitive handicap on paper, with some great prize money on offer attracting the big yards to run some nice horses. Irish raider Santono Chevalier has been a revelation at Dundalk since stepping up to 12f, so he is high on the list, along with the very well handicapped Pistoletto, whose finishing application is questionable but certainly has some ability. My tip for this race though hai...