Betting news and tips: Trackman is back with the latest paddock talk as he reflects on the last week in racing
WE are back in business……almost.
Thanks to CGI animation and mind-bending algorithms, action starved punters can enjoy a `virtual’ running of the Grand National this afternoon.
ITV are screening the race `live’ at 5.00, with silky smooth Nick Luck hosting and Stewart `the machine’ Machin on commentating duties.
Punters are allowed a maximum of a tenner win per horse per person or £10 each-way per horse.
Aintree king Tiger Roll is certain to start jolly but what about having a couple of quid each-way on last year’s runner-up Magic Of Light.
She jumps for fun, has Irish ace Jessica Harrington on her side and is nailed on to give us a run for our money if the boffins have got their sums right.
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Jonathan Burke is jocked up to ride Double Shuffle. But I reckon the weighing room joker has been spending too much time in the tuck shop.
Top man Burkey tweeted: “Delighted to have made the cut for the virtual Grand National but have to report I won't do the weight!”
Talking of which, top jock Richard Kingscote is going to have to watch his waistline.
Richard’s missus Ashleigh runs a cake-making business and has drafted him in to put some jam in her doughnuts during the break.
It’s odds-on he won’t be quite such a little Richard when racing resumes.
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Hands up if you fancy yourself as a salesman.
Well, Richard Hannon Jnr sounds like a fella who could flog curlers to Kojak.
You see, Junior bought and paid for 50 yearlings last autumn and has managed to find buyers for the lot.
Good job too. Prospective owners are harder to find than hand sanitisers right now.
And Hannon plans to keep his young guns busier than a shelf stacker in Sainsburys when racing resumes.
He reckons we should be staging 20-race cards with 15-minute intervals between contests.
That sounds like a long old day at the coalface. But there’s no doubt Hannon’s heart is in the right place.
The two-year-old king is planning to donate £25 to the NHS for every winner he trains this year. That will tot up to a nice few bob by the end of the year, so more power to his elbow.
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It takes a lot to rattle super cool Roger Charlton. But racing’s answer to James Bond sounds shaken and a bit stirred about his ante-post 1000 Guineas favourite Quadrilateral.
Word is that Roger has his stable star ready to rumble and is desperate for the BHA to decide whether the fillies’ Classic will be run behind closed doors or scrapped altogether.
Meanwhile, veteran trainer Paul Cole is going to hold his licence jointly with son Oliver from this season onward.
Now Paul does tend to look as if he’s been told there’s a tax on smiling. But you can’t argue with his big race record.
He finished top of the pops more often than Kylie in the 90s and was crowned champion trainer when Generous won the Derby.
Anyway, the whisper is that Coley’s crew are itching to get busy with crack miler Duke Of Hazzard.
This flying machine nearly broke the land speed record when he pinched a couple of big pots at Goodwood last summer.
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Make no mistake, connections will have their chins nailed to the floor if he fails to nick a big’un this year.
Meanwhile, jump fans will be chuffed to hear that Phil Kirby’s crowd pleaser Lady Buttons is staying in training.
She’s the toughest mare to come out of the north since Nora Batty was terrorising Compo and his pals in Last Of The Summer Wine.
Kirby’s queen is doing a Cliff Richard and taking a summer holiday at the moment. But her team are already eyeing up a third win in Doncaster’s Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle next January.
By the way, keep an eye on cunning Kirby’s Top Ville Ben. The trainer thinks he’s top class and a Grand National winner in the making.
Talking of horses to follow, Cheltenham hero Harry Skelton reckons one of big brother Dan’s team should be added to your notebook.
Cadzand is the name in the frame and happy Harry is certain he’ll go right to the top over hurdles next winter.