17th August 2012
Perth Betting: McCains Absinthe the value bet in Perth's Summer Champion Hurdle
4.15 Perth: Totepool Mobile Text Summer Champion Hurdle (Governors Cup) (Class 2) (2m110y)
Perth hold a decent jumping card on Saturday and the feature race is the £25,000 added Summer Champion Hurdle, which is a limited handicap over two miles. Eleven runners have been declared and the top rated horse in the race is His Excellency on 137 and is one of two horses trained by David Pipe. The 4yo is ridden by amateur jockey Kieron Edgar claiming 10lbs and can be backed at 16/1 at the moment with Bet365.
His Excellency has just come over from Ireland and has winning form over fences this summer, his best form over hurdles was when 8th to Countrywide Flame in he Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. The yards other runner is Hunterview from the same ownership and he has a had a spin on the flat recently at Ffos Las, he was a poor fifth that day so not very encouraging to say the least but this horse won the Scottish County Hurdle at Musselburgh last season and is a very useful sort on his day.
Nick Henderson sends one up in First In The Queue who won a Class 2 handicap at Bangor last time out, which was a weak event for the grade and has been put up 5lbs. He didn’t travel that well at Bangor and I’m just not sure about his overall form and I wouldn’t want to backing him at short prices. The favourite looks likely to be Cause Of Causes who makes the trip over from Ireland for Gordon Elliott who has had stacks of winners at Perth over the last few years. This one has had four races this season and won two of them but it was his defeat last time out that makes him interesting here. He was beaten in a photo at Galway in a Grade A handicap and finished in front of the likes of Captain Cee Bee, Plan A and Sailors Warn, that form gives him a leading chance here and Timmy Murphy has been booked to do the steering.
Donald McCain’s horses continue in good form and he saddles Absinthe who won on the flat at Chester and over hurdles at Bangor within 9 days in May and then was a fair fourth to Local Hero in the big summer hurdle at Market Rasen. He keeps his form well and is handily weighted here and should be involved. Kian’s Delight was second in that race at Market Rasen and that was a solid first attempt in a handicap for the Peter Bowen 4yo, he’s only up 2lbs and seems to be improving all the time although the trainer does seem to have gone off the boil lately.
Ultimate has been a consistent sort for Brian Ellison over the years and he too has been busy on the level this season, his last win over hurdles was in 2009 but has won a couple of chases since then and will be spot on here. Smalib Monterg has been in great heart for trainer Richard Newland, he has won three times and improved for firm ground last time at Newton Abbot, he races off a career high mark of 120 here and faces his stiffest task to date by far and may find one or two too good here.
Interesting contest and despite all of the home trainers being represented it’s the Irish horse Cause Of Causes that sticks out after his terrific effort at the Galway Festival, a repeat of that performance would see him home here. The danger is probably Absinthe from the McCain yard, he has had some temperament issues in the past but has done nothing wrong lately and at the prices is the value bet here with a saver on the favourite.
Selections;
2pts EW Absinthe 7/1 BetVictor
2pts Cause Of Causes 2/1 Bet365
- Register at BetVictor
Author: Ray Singpost
