Haydock 15:15: Betway offers 7/4 racing odds on Pentland Hills – 18th January 2020

Can the exciting Darasso challenge the proven quality of Pentland Hills?

Horse Racing Betting

This is the New One Unibet Hurdle (registered as the Champion Hurdle Trial Hurdle) and it is a Grade 2 Class 1 affair. There are only four runners taking part in the race and so it’s not going to take too long to assess form.

The race is at 1m 7f and at the head of the very small field, it is Pentland Hills who is lined up as the favourite. Read our Haydock racing preview for more and this is being shown live on ITV racing on Saturday.


Horse Racing Betting at Betway

Kempton 15:15 Race Odds

Pentland Hills 7/4
Darasso 2/1
Ballyandy 4/1
Cornerstone Lad 4/1
* (betting odds taken from Betway on January 17th, 2020 at 2:53 pm)

Pentland Hills

The Nicky Henderson-trained Pentland Hills needs to come up with a bit of recovery after a fifth-place finish in the last outing. That was from a field of eight in a Grade 2 Group 2 run out at Cheltenham in December last year. It was a five-length defeat for him as well and it snapped some cracking form that he had shown earlier in the year.

In early 2019 Pentland Hills put three straight wins on the board between 1m 7f and 2m. He looked to be working hard at Cheltenham last month just seemed to lose it after the final jump. Has proven quality though like in his Triumph Hurdle win, if that recent misfire can be overlooked.

Darasso Outright
2/1

Coral

Darasso

Darasso is a very interesting horse, arguably not a level that Pentland Hills is at. But there appears to be a good deal of progression to come from him since his last outing which was in March of last year. He signed off before that break with a victory at Navan, immediately handling a 4lb penalty after success at Gowran Park.

Punters haven’t been afraid to back the French runner in opposition to the favourite and he was trimmed into 2/1 on Friday* (betting odds taken from Betway on January 17th, 2020 at 2:53 pm)

Ballyandy

A familiar name at his level and the horse teams up with jockey Sam Twiston-Davies again. His last outing was at Kempton in the Christmas Hurdle last month where he took a third-place finish. His one win last year came at Uttoxeter in late January.

That remained his only success of the calendar year. Ballyandy was a 14/1 shot for that Christmas Hurdle in December and was beaten by 8 lengths. His strike rate has dropped and the 9-year-old could struggle to be much more than consistent.

Cornerstone Lad

Cornerstone Lad had a recent scrap with Buveur D’Air in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle holding out for a win by a short head. That added to a win at Weatherby that he took earlier in the season. Buveur D’Air didn’t look at his sharpest in that race to be fair but Cornerstone Lad has stacked up to three straight wins for trainer Micky Hammond.

He is a course and distance winner when he struck at Kempton in December 2018. But he’s the top weight for this fixture now and that could be a big ask for him to handle in a small field against some very stiff challenges.

Prediction

Pentland Hills is the star of the show in this one and it was just a bit of a blow-up after the last in his run at Cheltenham last month. At the very least that was a run under his belt for sharpness and he still has good appeal at 7/4 in a small field* (betting odds taken from Betway on January 17th, 2020 at 2:53 pm).

Cornerstone Lad has the winning touch and at C&D is hard to overlook. It’s just the weights and company that may hamper him here.

Darasso is such an exciting horse and is currently running in some good form and could mix it up as 2/1 opposition to the favourite* (betting odds taken from Betway on January 17th, 2020 at 2:53 pm).

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Qualifying Race this weekend:

ASCOT
13:50 The Warfield Mares’ Hurdle Race (Grade 2)
14:25 The Matchbook Holloway’s Handicap Hurdle Race (Grade 3)
15:00 The Bet365 Handicap Steeple Chase
15:35 The Matchbook Clarence House Steeple Chase (Grade 1)

HAYDOCK
14:05 The Sky Bet Supreme Trial Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 2)
14:40 The Peter Marsh Handicap Steeple Chase (A Limited Handicap) (Grade 2)
15:15 The New One Unibet Hurdle Race (Registered As The Champion Hurdle Trial Hurdle Race) (Grade 2)

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