The Weekend Winners team returns in search of winners in Newmarket and Chepstow.
Chepstow Saturday’s Feature Race DragonBet Welsh Racing Festival is the Wasdell Group Handicap Silver Trophytraveled the long journey of two miles and three furlongs.
Eighteen runners are expected to feature, with French Ship and Josh The Boss leading the market with good to soft ground expected in Monmouthshire.
Midway through this week’s show, the team analyzed the race and picked their winners…
Declan Rix…
“I’m going to go with last year’s winner Josh the boss. When you factor in Jamie Nield’s 7lbs he is only 3lbs heavier than last year and I think he won it in very good style. Sam hosted it last year and it must have been a very comfortable watch. He looked great with himself, loving life and perking up his ears. I thought he jumped pretty well overall and accelerated really well from two outs to one out, putting the pitch to the sword.
“It may not be the best horses that will win these races, sometimes it will just be the fittest horse. It’s the time of year for the Twiston-Davies yard, they get their horses ready early! Sometimes they can drop off towards the end of the season but that didn’t happen last year, they kept their form very well. However, that wasn’t the case for Josh The Boss but that’s perhaps no surprise given how well he was ready to mid-October.
“I hope he’s as ready again. He’s just come off a wind operation and we had Willy Twiston-Davies on Sky Sports Racing this week, who said his work is better than ever! He’ll do it for me.”
Kate Tracey…
“I am with Royal infantry. I still think there is so much more to come from him! He’s making his Handicap debut here and he’s a really smart horse who also has a very achievable mark. If he doesn’t start favorite, I won’t be surprised, but I think he should at least fight for favoritism. He also has a very good track record, which is a very key aspect at this time of year.
“He won under rules and on his stable debut in January 2024 before winning over hurdles and on his seasonal debut last season – also at this meeting in an inaugural two-mile hurdles. He was a previous point-to-point winner but still looked green and inexperienced that day, and was still listed at 40/1 for the Supreme! He is still a very intelligent horse, being a Listed winner before finishing eighth in the Champion Bumper in 2024. He had a wind operation in January, but this saw him return to form in his subsequent starts, including last time when he was second in a Listed hurdler behind a Willie Mullins horse.
Sam Boswell…
“There is a David Pipe horse that I really like in the JP McManus silks at Thanks for the help. We last saw this horse win at Punchestown and his form looks pretty solid. The horses behind that have won since have all gone on to do various things. Second won the Summer Plate at Market Rasen for Gavin Cromwell, third finished second in a competitive Handicap and then won a maiden. Fourth won a chase, fifth won a Novice chase and a few others further back haven’t raced since.
“I still think he’s pretty well handicapped here after that win. He did well at this track in his only start, winning a qualifier at Pertemps. There’s enough there to tick the boxes and the ground shouldn’t be a problem. I thought he was a provisional play at around 10/1 – a nice, easy play to start with, eh?”
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