Trio out to impress at Newbury
February 17, 2012 09:45:21 UK
Three huge reputations are very much on the line on Friday as Paul Nicholls' Triumph Hurdle winner Zarkandar makes a belated seasonal return to action, and Nicky Henderson pair Long Run and Sprinter Sacre get their big pre-Festival runs.
It's truly hard to see beyond any of them as Newbury stages its rescheduled meeting from last Saturday although Zarkandar, who is at 3.75, will need to be at his very best in the if he's to overcome Darlan - who has won a hat-trick of races this term and is at 13.00 - in what will be a really top contest.
The other Nicholls runner to take note of in this race is Brampour who is at 34.00, while Empire Levant cannot be completely discounted, and Willie Mullins sends his Final Approach for the race thus adding real spice.
Henderson has been talking up Sprinter Sacre since the start of the campaign and it will be the shock of shocks if anything gets close to him, with his odds now at 1.40 in the .
Long Run has stablemate Burton Port keeping him company in the Betfair Denman Chase and will need to win well if he's to retain Cheltenham Gold Cup favouritism over Kauto Star although Nicholls duo What a Friend and Tidal Bay will make things interesting.
However, both What a Friend and Tidal Bay have question marks over them given previous running and it may indeed be Burton Port who poses the most problems.
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