Barry Geraghty’s William Hill blog: Marie’s Rock will be tough to crack

William Hill ambassador runs his eye over Friday’s card from Newbury, picking out his best bets.

Newbury, Friday

JERIKO DU REPONET is a horse to watch in the opening contest (12:10pm). He won his point-to-point in Kirkistown and JP [McManus] has purchased him since. You couldn’t help but be impressed by the way he won that and last week he caught the eye when galloping with Dusart at Newbury. Dusart is a smart horse to be working with and is quietly fancied for the Coral Gold Cup, so to come up a couple of lengths ahead of him was quite impressive. The vibes behind this horse have been very strong during the autumn and he looks like he has the potential to go to the top.

HERMES ALLEN makes his chase debut in the John Francombe (1:50pm). He won the Challow Hurdle at Newbury last season over this trip, and while he probably hasn’t fulfilled his potential yet, he must be respected as a Grade 1 winner. He jumped a hurdle like a horse that should take well to fences and he looked like he would improve physically from last season. He’s going to be well prepped coming from the Paul Nicholls’ yard and Newbury is a nice place to introduce a horse to fences. You’d like to think he is going to be in his comfort zone all the way and be hard to beat.

In the Long Distance Hurdle (3:00pm), MARIE’S ROCK could be the one as she looks like she’s been crying out for this step up in trip. She was a good winner on New Year’s Day on soft ground over 2m4f and finished the season as runner-up behind Sire Du Berlais when trying this trip for the first time at Aintree. She was only caught late on there and I think she can improve again over this trip. Paisley Park won this race last season and looks a danger, but Dashel Drasher could be the bigger danger, having appeared to need his reappearance run at Wetherby.