Nick Luck’s William Hill Blog: He’s the winner, Amirite?

IROKO is worth a shot in the Turners, the novices’ chase that kicks off Day 3 of the Festival (1.30pm). Yes, this is a tall order and, yes, there’s a possibility an on-point Facile Vega could hose up. But Iroko just looked a complete natural when pounding a couple of fair sorts on his chasing debut at Warwick, and the track and conditions look absolutely perfect. He’s been reportedly training well, schooling well, and doing plenty of racecourse work, and I strongly suspect he’d have at least matched the Grey Dawning/Ginny’s Destiny form had he the chance. 13/2.

POPOVA might be the answer to a tough Pertemps (2.10pm). I hadn’t had her marked as a real stayer given her good Flat pedigree, but damsire Kayf Tara has obviously imparted some stamina judged particularly on her last two runs. She made some nice headway in the qualifier, plugging on nicely late, and is relatively unexposed for something like this. It goes without saying the connections warrant maximum respect. 9/1.

ENVOI ALLEN is a hard horse nowadays to get people worked up over, but he can repeat in the Ryanair (2.50pm). A look back at last year showed just how effective he is on this track, as befits such a well balanced athlete, and conditions will hold fewer fears for him than most. He’ll stall round, benefiting from the guaranteed solid tempo, and he’ll have a nice freshness edge. I’ll also be backing the unheralded FUGITIF at a price. I like the way he’s been conditioned for this, with a sharpener in a Grade one over 2 miles, and he has bundles of smart form at this track. The harder the pace meltdown, the better his chance. 9/4.

The barmy ASTERION FORLONGE is my each-way play at 28/1 in the Stayers’ Hurdle (3.30pm). Although I think Teahupoo is a dead solid favourite, do I want to go in so short in a race with lots of possibilities? I like Noble Yeats, but do I quite trust him to back up? Essentially there’s a cigarette paper between the lot of these on their best day, and the selection has an extraordinary Supreme fourth (when seriously errant), a solid Turners third, and a very respectable Gold Cup run (when jumping horribly) to his name. Patrick Mullins got a lovely tune out of him when he finished in front of Teahupoo and Sire Du Berlais at Punchestown last spring, while a solid effort behind Irish Point in a crawl last time wasn’t bad at all. Now reinvented as a staying hurdler, this actually might be his job.

SAINT FELICIEN makes quite a bit of appeal at 9/1 in rather a thin Plate (4.10pm). Sent off a red-hot favourite for a Coral Cup off a higher hurdles mark two years ago, the wheels fell off, but his price was a measure of his promise, and he’s returned with a string of progressive and pleasing runs over fences. He’s not done improving and will appreciate the ground.

DYSART ENOS is my pick at 9/2 in an intriguing mares’ hurdle (4.50pm). The two Irish mares are formidable, and I have no negatives to issue, but the selection excites me just as much, receives 5 pounds from that pair, and is a significantly bigger price. I believe Golden Ace would have a chance in an ordinary edition of this, and Dysart Enos walloped her by almost double digits at Aintree last year.

AMIRITE looks to have a fair each-way shout at 10/1 in the Kim Muir (5.30pm). His two latest runs have been pretty solid, with a slipping saddle here a viable excuse – he’s now 6lbs better off with stablemate Whacker Clan. The run in the Paddy Power at Christmas was good, showing he could hack the hurly burly, and a truer run affair will see him in even better light. He’s had less racing than most, and could just be brewing a big effort.