One of the most interesting races on the opening day of the festival for me is the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle writes Bradley Gibbs.
Going back through recent renewals shows that the Irish, perhaps unsurprisingly, have had a rather strong grip of this race in recent times. Each of the last six winners has been trained in Ireland. More interesting still is the fact that Gordon Elliot has won three of those six.
Elliott runners typically turn up mob-handed in the handicap. That is almost guaranteed to be the case here. Early betting tells us that Ndaawi is his most fancied runner, but at bigger odds, Kala Conti catches my eye.
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A graded race that takes place each year at Naas in February has featured four of the last five winners of this race, and there will likely be five runners, including Eagle Fang, who won that contest with relative ease last month.
Now, we could say that makes Eagle Fang a leading contender for this race, but it is the strength of Kala Conti’s run against that runner in December which interests me more. Before Eagle Fang won at Naas, Elliott’s filly beat that rival quite nicely in a Grade 2 at Leopardstown, which leaves me thinking that she’s quite sizably priced here. She followed that effort up by running respectably in Grade 1 company at the start of February and has since been left for this contest.
Both fillies and French imports have done very well in this race in recent times, so when we combine this with her form and Elliott’s recent record in this race, 16/1 starts to look on the large side. You’d certainly find worse first-day bets, put it that way.
Best Bet: Kala Conti (each-way) @ 16/1 (several firms, all paying five places, NRNB)