Its Tudor for Sandown and Derham for Musselburgh

Sandown & Musselburgh selections Saturday 1st February

A brilliant weekend for jumping fans gets underway with a full house of fixtures on Saturday. Of course the highlights is the first day of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown, but there are plenty of betting opportunities at the two big meetings in Britain where I have two men to follow this afternoon.

Musselburgh 2.17: Balhambar

It has been a trying season for new trainer Harry Derham this term. A slow start to the autumn (possibly the horses being afflicted by a low grade virus) was showing definite signs of improvement in mid-November, only for Storm Bert to then completely wash away the stable gallops. As a result the horses have been a little short of fitness recently, but BALHAMBAR showed up well at Southwell on New Years Day and can be expected to build on that here.

All the evidence suggests this horse wants a nice, flat track having won for the yard at Bangor and Ludlow in the spring and then coming up against the best handicapped horse in the country in Pickanumber at Huntingdon.

He then cruised to the front on his comeback at Cheltenham’s November meeting only to be outstayed up the hill. He again travelled well at Southwell, only finding Alnilam too good, but he might be better suited by drier ground today.

Musselburgh 2.50: The Kalooki Kid & Sir Psycho

A classy individual THE KALOOKI KID might still be well in off a mark of 131 today and If he jumps as well as he did at Doncaster last time, he is going to take a lot of beating.

This 7yo is racing for just the third time over fences, but he was so fluent at Doncaster that I believe he is ready for a first test against experienced rivals. He had run well at Ayr on his chasing debut in the autumn when second over an inadequate 2m. The extra 3f clearly suited at Doncaster and he is already a winner over this course and distance over hurdles. Decent ground is another positive given he has plenty of strong form on good going.

Another Derham inmate in SIR PSYCHO can outrun his odds. A bit quirky, he nevertheless usually shows plenty of resolution at the finish and after a modest seasonal return at Newbury, albeit in a hot contest, he did much better over 2m at Ffos Las recently. He gave good chase to Keep Running that day, but his natural trip is this 2m4f and he should be seen to even better effect here.

He was only narrowly beaten at Newbury in March on similar ground to today and his come from behind running style might be ideal for this race with plenty of early pace likely, not least from stable mate Fidelio Vallis.

Sandown 3.07: Deep Cave

Given the hurdles track was inspected for waterlogging on Thursday, we can assume the ground will be ultra testing this afternoon and therefore stamina over 3m will be required. One horse who won’t be wanting in that respect is DEEP CAVE.

Christian Williams obtained this horse from France in the summer and he has shown decent potential in good handicaps without quite getting involved at the finish. He was only beaten 2l at Windsor last time when not quite having the pace to sustain his challenge in the straight on a flat track and middling ground.

However faced with heavy going and an uphill finish, I can see him finishing much more strongly that many. He hinted at that strength when finishing strongly at Cheltenham in November and ground quicker than ideal and was competitive again there on New Years Day. His winning form in France was on very soft ground and on his first attempt on heavy in this country I think he will have more to give.

Sandown 3.42: Eden Du Houx

Jack Tudor rides Deep Cave and has another chance with EDEN DU HOUX in this chase.

This 11yo has been around a long time since being a top class bumper horse in 2018, but has relatively few miles on the clock and is coming back down to a very useful mark. 2m around Haydock was always going to be an insufficient test on his comeback but I noted him making some encouraging late ground over 2m3f at Chepstow last time. Since then he has undergone a wind op, and has dropped to a career low mark of 122.

The David Pipe yard has been in great form all season and at his advancing age he is well worth another try at 3m, as he shapes like a pure stayer these days. He did win his point in Ireland over 3m, but had little success at 3m or beyond in his early days as a chaser. That was going back four years though and there is every chance he will stay now his early exuberance is behind him.

Recommended bets

1pt each-way – Balhambar – 2.17 Musselburgh – 9/2 William Hill, Ladbrokes

1pt win – The Kalooki Kid – 2.50 Musselburgh – 11/4 general

0.5pts each-way – Sir Psycho – 2.50 Musselburgh – 10/1 Bet365 (1/5 odds 1st 4)

1pt each-way – Deep Cave – 3.07 Sandown – 10/1 Bet365, Coral (1/5 odds 1st 4)

1pt each-way – Eden du Houx – 3.42 Sandown – 11/1 Ladbrokes

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