Nicky Henderson’s Mr Coffey runs in the 5.30, the National Hunt Chase over 3m6f. He’s developed a reputation for not winning, and his crack at finishing first in this will be made all the harder by the classy favourite GAILLARD DU MESNIL. But I believe he will run much better than his 10/1 price infers and I’ll be very disappointed if he cannot land us a profit through EW betting.
He’s run 7 times over fences, and, at 8-y-o, the best is yet to come, especially over this longer trip. He was 2nd last year in The Kim Muir over 4 furlongs shorter. His warm-up for this over 3 miles at Warwick last time saw him finish 2nd again. His trainer believes he would have won had the race strategy worked out: he was meant to be very prominent throughout, but got hampered at the start and could never get the position that jockey O’Connor wanted. He will come on from that race, which was the best performance of his career on ratings.
He’s been on my Cheltenham radar since that Warwick race, and I was holding out in hope that one of the bookies would offer enhanced places; so far, none has. If you want the full 10/1 you must bet to 3places only, but I am happy to do so.
If you’d like Mr Coffey in an EW double, I recommend Corach Rambler and The Big Breakaway, both in the Ultima – 2.50 where `Skybet are paying 8 places. I will be backing those two with Mr Coffey in permed EW doubles. Corach Rambler is on his way to being a high class chaser. He won this last year and the form of his last run is working out very well. The Big Breakaway also has class. He’s suffered on and off with shin problems, but has run the best two ratings of his career in this season two runs. If he were a better jumper, I’d nominate him with plenty of confidence, but at 14s to 8 places, there is still good value there.
Good luck
Joe
My usual warning. Anything I put up as a tip here is for ‘fun money’ – stakes you can afford to lose almost without even thinking about it. There’s just as much fun to be had with small stakes.
Post race edit: Despite landing the place part of our bet with a 3rd, Mr Coffey was disappointing, like all but one of Henderson’s runners today, putting a question mark over the rest of his runners for now. The £15 return brings our profit for the season to £158 to £5 stakes.
Steeplechasing 