Ladbrokes Trophy Preview

The big races are starting to come around thick and fast as the National Hunt season really starts to gain some momentum on the lead up to Christmas and the attention this weekend turns to the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury formerly known as the Hennessy.

As ever it’s still early on in the week so there could be a big mix up in the market from now to the race itself so as I do on all these posts i’d strongly advice waiting until firms go No Runner No Bet before punting if you are one to do it before the day.

There’s a big field attracted so far and it’s currently headed by Total Recall for Willie Mullins. He won really well on his first start for his new stable and has subsequently had the form of that race boosted. He’s an obvious player and can be found trading at a general 6/1.

American is also up there at the top of the market for Harry Fry, i’m a huge fan of this horse and would be all over putting him up as a selection if I was confident of him turning up and getting his desired ground. He’s somewhat of a fragile horse to say the least and connections won’t want any form of ‘good’ in the ground so as I can’t see a great deal of rain in the forecast i’ll be leaving him out this time.

The first of the couple of selections i’ve got for this race comes in the form of VYTA DU ROC for Nicky Henderson. He ran a decent race on his reappearance run at Aintree which I think will be an ideal prep for this. He ran in this last year where he finished a respectable sixth place behind Native River, he’s off a decent enough mark this time around I think he could go a few places better and make a bold bid to make the frame. He’s trading at a general 10/1.

My second selection is a bit of a long shot and fairly out there one and is a 33/1 Willie Mullins chance which you don’t say very often but that’s none other than CHILDREN’S LIST. He’s another that isn’t certain to turn up but i’d be willing to chance it at his price. He’s taken quite well to chasing was just being beaten into second on his latest outing by a decent sort. He may well improve again off a fairly decent mark.