Skip to main content

OLBG Mares' Hurdle

The new breed of hurdlers, chasing stars, the blue riband event of hurdling - they all take place early on the card on the opening day of the Festival, but one thing has been a constant since 2009 - Quevega lining up and claiming the Mares' Hurdle. Ready for one more roll of the dice to set history? Dan Mellett, @danmellett, makes his blog debut with his look at the Festival's shortest-priced favourite of the week. Dan also contributes to @bytheminracing, the account to follow for live racing coverage.

-------------------------

OLBG Mares' Hurdle

If you are into your racing there's no doubt you've had Tuesday 11th March circled in your diary since last year or more likely entered into your iPhone these days: "Cheltenham". What you have probably also had for the last few years as well on that Tuesday: "Quevega". So it's been for the last five years and many punters have gotten away with Tuesday's early misguided picks thanks to a certain French-bred female.

Tomorrow Willie Mullins' charge goes for an unprecedented sixth win at the Festival, aiming to go one better in the history books than the legendary Golden Miller who claimed five Gold Cups in a row no less. The other constant here is her partner in crime, a certain Ruby Walsh, the Festival's all-time leading jockey. This combination is as good as it gets and if the "wonder mare" can do it again there won't be any complaints from the betting ring, the media or this writer.

16 go to post in this OLBG renewal but all eyes will be drawn to "Queen" Quevega but given her performance last year with only a late surge ensuring a fifth win, can she do it again?

Champion jockey AP McCoy has chosen Cockney Sparrow for this spin and that booking as usual brings attention but a faller last time out at Doncaster is the big negative.

Harry Fry sends Highland Retreat and Noel Fehily into battle and on paper the form figures look good but behind those the trip and ground throw up concerns.

Last year's runner up, Sirene D'Ainey is next in betting and had the race at her mercy before Ruby stoked up Quevega for an amazing 5th victory. Hard to believe that Sirene can go one better tomorrow.

Glens Melody also runs for Willie Mullins but I don't think he realistically sees any threat for his other stable star.

Barry Geraghty takes the ride on Cailin Annamh an Irish raider from the Harrington yard with definite place claims at a decent price.

The other one to consider could be L'Unique with Choc Thornton booked for Alan King. This is a Grade One winner and again with a short price favourite, the value men could do worse.

Down Ace and Doyley Cart may also fulfil that brief if you don't fancy Quevega but I know where my bail-out bet will be going if the earlier races haven't been kind.

Conclusion:

"Queen" Quevega for a magical sixth Mares Hurdle and not a dry eye in the house (bookies in particular).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

Betdaq.... sold...... FOR HOW MUCH???

So as rumoured for a while, Ladbrokes have finally acquired the lemon, sorry, purple-coloured betting exchange, Betdaq. For a mind-boggling €30m as 'initial consideration'. That's an even more ridiculous price than Fernando Torres for £50m, or any English player Liverpool have purchased in recent seasons! As I've written previously there are no logical business reasons for this acquisition. from Nov 29, 2012 The Racing Post reported this week that Ladbrokes are nearing a decision to acquire Betdaq. This baffles me, it really does. Betdaq are a complete and utter lemon. Their only rival in the market has kicked so many own goals over the years with the premium charge, followed by an increase in the premium charge, cost of API and data use, customer service standards which have fallen faster than Facebook share value, site crashes and various other faults. So many pissed off Betfair customers, yet Betdaq are still tailed off with a lap to go. Around the world, Betfair

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...