Two for the big hurdle

IN the Bet365 Hurdle at 2.45 (Wetherby) Lisnagar Oscar is out to 9/2 and must be backed at that price. The Curtis yard is in fine form and this is a big prize for them. I can only assume that punters have decided he’s to be ignored as a fluke winner of The Stayers, a race he won fair and square, albeit the fav had an off day. The fact is he had run a cracker in the race before that to be 3rd in The Cleeve to Paisley Park.

After The Cleeve, Curtis said LO had been suffering badly with ulcers through the previous season and she had always considered him a Stayers horse. He has relatively few miles on the clock for a 7-y-o, and looks excellent value, though BOG should be taken, of course, as he’s been drifting all morning.

Kildisart catches the value eye too in this, his first run over hurdles for more than two-and-a-half years, Big things were expected of him over fences, but he was mainly disappointing until hitting hot form at the end of last season, finishing with a head defeat in the Ultima. Ben Pauling’s yard looks to be creeping quietly into form too and you should have a saver on this at 18/1.

The Charlie Hall is fascinating, but I won’t have a bet. Vinndication looks much too short and Cyrname way too big. Such a classy horse as Cyrname would normally carry my money here, but I think this horse is far from straightforward. He’s baffled me since that sudden almost two-stone improvement when winning at Ascot almost two years ago.

My theories with Cyrname are: that 20lbs + improvement run was his first time hoodless. The novelty of no hood might now have worn off: his defeat of Altior could have taken its toll -physical and/or mental on his first run after wind surgery last season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pull up today.

Good luck and don’t bet more than you can afford to lose.

Joe