Saturday 26th February 2022

Author: Jordan Yates (EvRacing_)

A big welcome to this week’s Saturday Preview which comes from Kempton Park where it’s Coral Trophy Day. You may think this week’s addition is a little early, and you’d be right it is, so there could be a few changes to fields to keep an eye out for.

I’ll be sharing my opinions on the ITV races that take place at Kempton on Saturday, which include the three Grade 2s which are the Adonis Hurdle, Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle and Pendils Novices’ Chase, as well as the feature which is the Grade 3 Coral Trophy.

So, as ever, enjoy!

– Jordan

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The first race of the day comes up at 1:15 and it’s a Class 2 Handicap Chase that’s contested over two miles and four and a half furlongs. I’m taking a chance on Patroclus here for Nicky Henderson who’s currently a 6/1 chance in the betting. He’s a well thought of horse and looked to have potential when winning a couple of novice hurdles last season. Since going over the larger obstacles he was disappointing on his chasing debut, but put that behind him last time out at Leicester when he won by a neck, he’s one of the least exposed in the field here and I think there could be more to come from him.

Next up is the 1:50 which is the Grade 2 Adonis Hurdle over two miles. This is all about Knight Salute for me who’s currently a 9/4 shot for Milton Harris. He’s unbeaten since going over hurdles and has become one of my favourite horses throughout the current National Hunt season. His form speaks for itself as well, he got the better of Porticello and Impulsive One the last day when taking a Grade 2 at Doncaster and that was following another Grade 2 success at Cheltenham. He should take all the beating here.

We move onto the 2:25 now which is more Grade 2 action, this time in the form of the Pendil Novices’ Chase over two miles and four and a half furlongs. I’ve sided with Pic D’Orhy here at 9/4 for Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden. It’s been well documented that the Ditcheat team haven’t been firing on all cylinders for the last few weeks, but they have slowly started to get a few back on the board, and I just think that this horse is considerably better than these. If running anywhere near to his official rating of 154 he could prove very tough to beat.

The 3:00 us up next which follows the trend of Grade 2 contests as the Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle takes centre stage over two miles. I find it hard to get away from the Gary Moore trained Shallwehaveonemore here who’s a best price of 13/8 currently in the betting. He was last seen when bolting up by the best part of twenty lengths in a novice hurdle at Sandown last month, and looks to have bundles of potential moving forward. He also got the better of the exciting Walking On Air in a bumper last season which Nicky Henderson was staggered by. A bold showing in this assignment would come as no surprise.

Concluding the preview for me is the 3:37 which is the Grade 3 Coral Trophy over three miles. This is an extremely competitive and open looking contest, of which a case could be made for most of them. I’ve taken a chance on Galahad Quest at 10/1 for Nick Williams who’s set to be ridden by David Noonan. He’s been running some solid races in competitive contests like this for some time and whilst he doesn’t have more room to manoeuvre off his current mark, he’s shown he can be competitive off this kind of rating in this kind of race. This could stand for a lot in a race that consists of a lot horse that have many questions hanging over them.