Nick Luck’s William Hill Blog: Leader has a Strong chance in Long Distance Hurdle

William Hill ambassador Nick Luck previews Friday’s action at Newbury, including the Grade Two Long Distance Hurdle.

Newbury, Friday

The televised Newbury action starts with the John Francome Novices Chase (13:55), with most of the runners here quite closely matched on the form that they showed in the Challow Hurdle last season, which was won in dour fashion by Captain Teague. I’m a little concerned that he races too lazily to be smooth and fluent over fences around here. I am drawn to The Jukebox Man, but my preference is for Johnnywho. He finished fourth in last year’s Challow, but I never thought he was in a challenging position, and I was impressed with him on his comeback run at Carlisle. He will need to step up on that for sure, but the O’Neill stable is in great form this season, and I think he has more to offer over fences especially with some cut in the ground.

In the 2m3f handicap chase (14:30), it’s difficult to look away from Galop De Chasse based on his recent run, but everyone has spotted that and he’s absolutely no price now. Lord Baddesley is my selection, he’s worth an each-way flier at big odds. You can throw out his run in the Badger Beers at Wincanton, he had a horrible trip round and was hampered. He jumped out to his left throughout and will be much happier going this way round, he’s got strong form at Newbury, and I hold his stable in high regard. The drop back in trip is sure to suit, I like him at the prices.

Strong Leader looks a viable option in the Grade Two Long Distance Hurdle (15:05). I don’t think Monmiral at his best is up to the standard set by Strong Leader and Langer Dan, and it’s quite clear that Strong Leader is likelier to ready for this engagement than Langer Dan, who Dan Skelton insists is rusty in the autumn. I think Strong Leader is a perfectly good favourite here.

In the concluding race (15:40) at Newbury, I like Madaket. His connections have quite a good record at the meeting, he’s a horse I like and was quietly progressive last season without pulling up any trees. I didn’t think his last run here was bad at all and the most compelling case for the horse is the step up to three miles. I think he’s been crying out for it; he was an excellent rallying second at Kempton last season which showed this will suit, he needs some juice in the ground which he’s got and I believe these are the conditions he needs to strike here.