Barry Geraghty’s William Hill blog: Sir Gino won’t leave you feeling Blue at Kempton

William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty previews the best of a busy day’s racing on Friday from Kempton, Chepstow and Leopardstown.

Kempton, Friday

We’re going to be treated to a brilliant clash in the Wayward Lad (1:55pm), which adds serious spice to Kempton’s Christmas festival. Willie [Mullins] is really taking the game to Nicky [Henderson] here by fielding Ballyburn against SIR GINO. Ballyburn was the top novice hurdler from last season, and the one everyone was looking forward to seeing where he was going to go. He is dropping back in trip to two miles here, and it might be a slight issue that he’s never raced on such quick ground as this around a sharp track like Kempton. He did win a Grade 1 over hurdles, but that was at Leopardstown, which is a big galloping track, and it came on soft ground. He’s a high-class horse and I’m a massive fan of his, but I just think this is the one place that he could be found out.

Sir Gino is a previous winner around Kempton and won the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle last time on good ground. The reports are that his schooling is top drawer, and the team are very excited about him. As a four-year-old he gets six pounds from Ballyburn, and while I don’t think the weight will beat Willie’s horse, I do think ground and track conditions may play more to Sir Gino’s strengths, as the emphasis could be on speed rather than stamina. It’s not ideal that he hasn’t had a go over fences in public yet, but it’s not unusual for Nicky to pitch one in first time over fences – I rode Bobs Worth to win a Grade 2 on his chase debut when he beat Cue Card – so it wouldn’t be a major concern.

MARTADOR is the horse with recent form in the Desert Orchid (2:30pm). He’s won his last five outings and has been impressive in his two starts at Ascot this season on good ground. He’s up in the weights here but still has quite a nice racing weight of 11st here, so I make him the one to beat. There are plenty of old timers taking him on here and the one that I’m interested in is last year’s winner Editeur Du Gite. He was a good winner of this last year off 159 after two poor runs and could easily be the forgotten horse here off a mark of 150.

Leopardstown, Friday

The two-mile-one-furlong Grade 1 chase (1:10pm) at Leopardstown is a brilliant race. I thought Paul Townend gave Gaelic Warrior one of the rides of the season last year when he won the Arkle. He’s a horse that is very keen and jumps to his right, but Paul managed to smuggle him around Cheltenham, and get cover, which isn’t an easy thing to do, and he went on to put in a brilliant performance. Prior to that he had jumped badly right when taking on Fact To File over two miles five furlongs at Leopardstown, and I just wonder if he will get the necessary cover here. He doesn’t have Paul Townend on board either. Found A Fifty tends to jump to the right as well, which is a negative for him, but potentially also for Gaelic Warrior because they could exaggerate each other’s jumping mistakes. This is a tricky race and for me the value is with last year’s winner, DINO BLUE. She has solid form and is rated to be very competitive with the favourite. She should improve for her good comeback run behind Energumene at Cork last time. It’s amazing what a consistent mare she is, she’s only been out of the first two once in her last 12 starts. She would be my pick in what looks a tricky and potentially tactical race.

ROMEO COOLIO goes in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle (1:45pm). He was disappointing when beaten last time, but there are potential excuses to be made as it was a very steadily run race and I don’t think that played to his strengths. I did think there was more to him though, considering how impressive he had been on hurdles debut at Down Royal and for me it was a tame performance. I don’t want to condemn him on the back of one run though, so I’ll stick with him here and hope this is run at a strong enough pace to suit him. There’s been a lot of chat recently about Willie Mullins’ Karniquet and he could well be the biggest danger.

Chepstow, Friday

It’s hard to get away from French raider NIETZSCHE HAS in the Grade 2 juvenile hurdle (1:40pm). He brings Grade 1 form into this and I don’t think he’s meeting the best of the English juveniles here. I don’t think Opec is the top juvenile in James Owens’ yard and I’m not sure he had much to beat when he won at Newbury last time. Nietzsche Has looks to have stronger form and he’d be the pick.

Currently the going is described as soft at Chepstow, so the Welsh Grand National (2:50pm) will likely be its usual strong test of stamina. I’m not sure this is the strongest renewal in the world, and I think there’s a question mark over favourite Monbeg Genius on soft ground. Venetia Williams is having a brilliant season and FONTAINE COLLONGES beat Monbeg Genius comfortably at Haydock last time on a soft surface. I don’t see why Monbeg Genius would reverse that form on a similar surface, so Fontaine Collonges looks to be good value in an open contest.