1:15 Cheltenham
SELECTION – BOOSTER BOB
The day has arrived and it’s time for bonus selection. The Tote have chosen the 1:15 Cheltenham. An odd race to pick with a short enough favorite, a second favorite and then the field at 8/1. I think they’re hoping the bonus rolls over with a major prize winner.
Anyway, we’ll start with the favorite Jagwar. Can he win? Of course you can, that’s what the price says. He will probably be the selection of most who play the Bonus… more than likely… Do I respect him? Yes, I think he is a very good horse, he is a horse who won at the Cheltenham Festival last season when he won the Plate on a handicap of 139.
He last rose to 148 when third in December’s Gold Cup, although he made a few mistakes along the way. Today he is at 149, which is a big figure and he will have to be a good horse to achieve that figure. To achieve that figure you need to be close to a Ryanair Chase horse and at 149 that’s no easy task.
I also wonder if he’s handicapped to try and win back to back Handicap Plates at the Festival and winning here will take him up into the mid 150s, eliminating that chance.
Of course I respect the horse, he is very capable, but he can make mistakes and on this soft surface it will not be easy. It was only in November that he was made a non-runner for the Paddy Power Gold Cup as the ground was too soft and although he will be a popular selection for the Bonus Race, I am happy to take him on with BOOSTER BOB.
Even before they announced this race for the Bonus, I thought the odds were BOOSTER BOB. I’m a fan of the horse and I think he could be a perfect Cheltenham horse because he sees his races through.
We were on BOOSTER BOB when he won at Newbury in November on a handicap of 132, again doing his best work late in the race.
Even going back to last season and his final start of the season where he beat Vincenzo with one of the best rides you will ever see from Sean Bowen. He easily pushed Vincenzo aside that day and that horse was rated 142 for the season.
BOOSTER BOB is a real keeper, he showed that when he won his race at Newbury in November, over 2m 6f. He’s tripping here, but Cheltenham is an undulating course, the ground is soft and with players like Javert Allen, Prairie Wolf and Donnacha, who all like to run up front or be prominent, they won’t be hanging around here.
It really suits BOOSTER BOB’s running style, as he likes to sit at the back and then run late, often staying at his best.
The way I see the race being run is that Sean Bowen will have him at the very back of the field for the first circuit, maybe even a few lengths behind the rest of the field. Javert Allen and the people already mentioned will be at the front and will take them along at a nice pace. I don’t think they will go super fast because the ground will be testing, but they will be fast enough for BOOSTER BOB to enter the race. I imagine that after the first circuit and upon reaching the hill, between the third last and fourth last obstacles, Sean Bowen will start to adopt a much closer order and persuade BOOSTER BOB to join in. He then rolls down the hill and jumps over the third last hurdle and the second last hurdle, before hopefully joining the fray as he gets to the final hurdle.
The way he stays out of his races, when the last gate gets close enough I can’t see anyone coming up the hill better, he really should devour the Cheltenham Hill.
Back to the horse and his abilities: I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of him and he’s still improving immensely with every run. He is now rated 141 by the handicapper, but I think he could be slightly better than that figure because he is a horse that always does just enough.
We also have Sean Bowen in the saddle, who is simply magical on this type of horse and although Jagwar is favored, hands down give me Sean Bowen over Jonjo O’Neill Jr, who rides up the Cheltenham hill any day of the week.
Olly Murphy horses continue to fly along, operating at a ridiculous strike rate of around 70% over the past two weeks.
Everything points to a huge run from BOOSTER BOB and hopefully he can BOOST us a BOB or two…
#Scoop #Bonus #Race #Selection #Saturday #January #JPW #Racing #Tipster