by: Malcolm Heyhoe
The four-day Cheltenham Festival dominates the March programme, but there?s also a busy programme of racing throughout the month including the ever-popular Imperial Cup day at Sandown plus the thrills and spills of the Midlands Grand National day at Uttoxeter. Flat fans, meanwhile, will need no reminding that the new turf season kicks off with the William Hill Lincoln at Redcar on March 25.
March begins with the newly-established Vodafone Gold Cup at Newbury on the 4th over two and a half miles. It?s something of a surprise to find such a valuable race staged so close to the Cheltenham Festival, and many trainers face the dilemma of deciding whether to run here or in either the Ryanair Chase or Racing Post Plate over similar distances at the Cheltenham Festival.
Twelve months ago a solid handicapper in the shape of Supreme Prince held on to land the valuable prize while in its inaugural year, the classy Isio was a well-backed winner. Absent since that season, Nicky Henderson?s gelding may well reappear in this race and would be an interesting contender.
On the same day Doncaster?s Grimthorpe Chase, a staying handicap over three and a quarter miles, has been transferred to Lingfield and may well be the chosen target of A Glass In Thyne, who won the Skybet Chase that had also been switched from Doncaster to Southwell in January. Maybe the changing fixture pattern will repeat itself again for Ben Pollock?s improving young chaser.
Champion trainer Martin Pipe has endured a stop-start season but plenty of punters will still be scouring the list of runners for the Imperial Cup at Sandown on March 11 in the hope of unearthing another Pipe hotpot for one of the season?s most keenly-contested handicap hurdles.
Pipe has won the race five times overall and has landed the prize three times in recent seasons. His mass of entries should be studied with the utmost care and may well include progressive sorts such as Buena Vista, Acambo and Desert Air.
The punishing combination of a fiercely-run race and a stamina-sapping finish up the demanding Sandown hill has often meant that lightly-weighted horses have held an advantage over their higher-weighted rivals, while waiting tactics have also proved successful for several of the recent winners. Making all in a race as competitive as this isn?t easy.
The Irish won this race with shock outsider Regency Rake, trained by Arthur Moore in 1999, and any runners from across the Irish Sea should be accorded the greatest respect. Jessica Harrington?s Studmaster, an easy winner of his last two races might take in this contest or wait for the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
On the same day at Sandown make a note also of the EBF Novices? Hurdle Final, a race that often produces a star of the future. Plenty of classy young hurdlers will have this contest in their sights including the Lambourn-trained duo Mr Pointment, and Wogan while the NickGifford team intends to field Dusky Lord.
In recent years the Irish have held the Champion Hurdle on March 14, the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, in a vice-like grip, winning five of the last seven renewals and looking at the somewhat weakened field for this year?s renewal it?s hard not to envisage the hurdling crown being whisked away once more across the Irish Sea.
Reigning title-holders boast a superb record in the Champion, but recent dual winner Hardy Eustace will have to banish a bout of the blues on his latest and disappointing effort in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopradstown. At the age of nine many think his time may have passed.
Plenty of horses that have been placed in the race previously have put that beneficial experience to good use by returning again the next year to run well. Ireland?s formidable trio of Brave Inca, Macs Joy and Al Eile, who finished third, fifth and seventh respectively in last year?s race will all be fancying their chances of winning this race a second time around.
The home-based challenge looks poor and has been hit hard by a spate of cruel injuries as well as the loss of form of emerging contenders such as Faasel and Penzance. Maybe the best of the British will be Arcalis, whose chances will be much increased by quick ground at Cheltenham, and a return to form for his stable.
Wednesday sees the two-mile heavyweights clash in the stirring championship that is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Predicting this year?s winner revolves around whether punters think dual winner and reigning champion Moscow Flyer is just a jaded member of the old guard ready to be swept away by young pretenders such as the classy Kauto Star and the improving Fota Island.
Disappointing on his two starts so far this season, the mighty Moscow Flyer is twelve years of age and you have to go back almost thirty years (1977) to find the last winner from that age group.
Kauto Star, by contrast, has youth on his side and hails from the Paul Nicholls stable that has the best recent record in this race with winners in 2004 and 1999, and four placed horses since 2000. Kauto Star is a worthy favourite to add to that auspicious tally.
Thursday?s championship race is the World Hurdle, formerly known as the Stayers? Hurdle and rather like the Queen Mother Champion Chase, it features a past champion in Baracouda attempting to add a third title at the age of eleven in what must rank a one of the most open renewals in living memory.
But for the foot-and-mouth abandonment of 2001, Baracouda would already have three Stayers? titles to his name but his task this year is made even harder by his advancing years and the presence of a strong domestic and Irish challenge from Mighty Man, No Refuge, Asian Maze and Golden Cross.
Friday March 17 is Cheltenham Gold Cup day and after the brilliant dominance of the chasing blue riband by three times victor Best Mate, this year?s renewal is one of the poorest and also most open in years and likely to produce a surprise result in this greatly-anticipated championship event.
The loss through injury of Kicking King, last year?s easy winner, has left the race wide-open but many backers will be looking to Monkerhostin, runner-up to the imperious Kicking King in the 2005 King George VI Chase, as a
possible winner. Seven of the last ten Gold Cup winners ran in the King George, making it a key trial for future Gold Cup heroes.
Cheltenham week closes with the Midlands Grand National day on March 18 and Ossmoses, a course winner last year, will be a leading fancy for the four-mile one-and-a-half furlong prize given his preference for running over long-distances in the mud. On the same card backers should watch out for Sue Smith?s tough mare Viciana in the EBF Mares? Novices? Chase Final.
March closes with the William Hill Lincoln run for the first time at Redcar (due to building work at Doncaster) and the draw is sure to have a big say in the outcome of this one-mile handicap, and the first big prize of the new turf Flat season.
Twelve months ago Newmarket trainer Sir Michael Stoute won this contest for the first time with Stream of Gold and bids to do the same again with the progressive King?s Majesty while James Fanshawe will be looking for easy ground if he?s to run Cesare, another young and improving horse.
About The Author
Malcolm Heyhoe is GG.com's resident tipster contributing a daily "Best Bets" column and a weekly feature called "The Weekend File". He is also a tipster for the Racing Post Weekender, contributor to The Guardian and has written on racing for Sporting Life, Racing Post, Irish Examiner and The Independent newspaper. Malcolm Heyhoe writes weekly horse racing articles for GG.COM-Horse racing betting, information, news, results and free daily tips Keep the article exactly as it appears here please.
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What is a Secured Loan?
What is a Secured Loan?
by: John Mussi
A secured loan is simply a loan that uses your home as security against the loan. Secured loans are suitable for when you are trying to raise a large amount; are having difficulty getting an unsecured loan; or, have a poor credit history.
Lenders can be more flexible when it comes to secured loans, making a secured loan possible when you may have been turned down for an unsecured loan.
Secured loans are also worth considering if you need a new car, or need to make home improvements, or take that luxury holiday of a lifetime.
Benefits of secured loans include:
Lower monthly repayments than unsecured loans
The ability to borrow more money
Spread repayments over a longer period of time
More detailed information??
A secured loan is a type of loan available to people with securable assets. Usually these assets take the form of property, such as a home; this is why...
What is a Secured Loan?
Horse > What is a Secured Loan?
Conquering Goals: The Battle Plan
Conquering Goals: The Battle Plan
by: Anthony Mullins
?To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.?(Anatole France) While these three items define success, without all of them success would be unattainable. Without a dream, you will be without desire and without desire, you will be without action. If you can unlock the dream, then you can unlock success and make your dream reality.
Take a look back across your life and at the difficult things that you have already accomplished. For some, finishing high school seemed impossible only to graduate from college. Others set out for a career and ended up owning their own business. No matter who you are, you have accomplished many things in your life. I venture to say that many of your accomplishments were at one time or another, a goal. Goals and dreams give hope and the ability to achieve things otherwise not realized. If you can institute the...
Conquering Goals: The Battle Plan
Horse > Conquering Goals: The Battle Plan
Successful Network Marketing Requires Effective Team Leadership
Successful Network Marketing Requires Effective Team Leadership
by: Kirk Bannerman
Many people who work at home participate in businesses that
involve teamwork and network marketing.
I am often contacted by members of my business team with
complaints regarding a lack of response or lack of action on the
part of their affiliates.
Their complaints typically go
something like..."I send out lots of emails to all of them and I
very rarely get any response and it seems like very few of them
are taking any action.
What am I doing wrong?".
There are many types of internet-based home businesses where
feedback and interaction are quite important and getting an
affiliate or business team member to communicate with you is a
definite objective.
It's not at all surprising that this can be
a challenge when you stop to think that what you are trying to do
is initiate a dialog between...
Successful Network Marketing Requires Effective Team Leadership
Horse > Successful Network Marketing Requires Effective Team Leadership
Dolphin Swim Seminars
Dolphin Swim Seminars
by: Dr. Laurie Moore
Dolphins love to be in bliss. they have a wonderful capacity for
sweeping peoples' hearts into places of newly experienced joy.
I thought I was a person who felt a lot of joy all my life. However, once I experienced being befriended by dolphins, bliss took on a whole new meaning. From my encounters with dolphins I have learned that the deepest joy can fill me from the tip of my toes to the top of my head and deep in my heart. This kind of joy is unconditional. It is something I bring to situations rather than something I try to receive from situations.
Here's an analogy. If you
don't give yourself water for a long time
and then wring out a
towel day after day in search of water,
you get little. If you drink big cups each day, your body feels hydrated and full of water all the time. So you don't need to drain your water form a source that is dry....
Horse > Dolphin Swim Seminars
80/20 Guide to Chinese Pronunciation -- Part 1
80/20 Guide to Chinese Pronunciation -- Part 1
by: Kah Joon Liow
?Just give me the basics!?
That?s what this Chinese pronunciation guide is all about.
It?s all that you need to know Chinese pronunciation to get by.
The 80% that?s important.
To speak Mandarin, the first thing to learn is Chinese pronunciation of words using the system known as pinyin.
Pinyin is the Romanized Chinese phonetic system and is the most effective aid to learning Mandarin today.
(Romanized means using English alphabets.)
Pinyin was invented in the 1950?s so that anyone, especially English speaking people, could learn Chinese pronunciation easily.
Most of the letters in pinyin have the same sounds as letters of the alphabet ? with only a few exceptions.
It?s really a very practical pronunciation system.
Can you imagine an English speaker trying to pronounce Chinese characters without pinyin?
(By the way, pinyin...
80/20 Guide to Chinese Pronunciation -- Part 1
Horse > 80/20 Guide to Chinese Pronunciation -- Part 1
The History of Steeplechase Horse Racing
The History of Steeplechase Horse Racing
by: Toby Beavers
The sport of Steeplechase racing dates back to 1752 in Ireland when two, half-crocked, friends settled the argument over who owned the best horse by racing to the nearest Church steeple after returning from Fox hunting. The winner actually rode right through the church where the vicar was holding a solemn funeral. Soon steeplechase racing spread to England, where in 1792, the first recorded race was held. This sport then crossed over from the Atlantic to the US, where it has became very popular.
In the early 19th century nine prominent men from New York - August Belmont, H. DeCourcy Forbes, Samuel S. Howland, James O. Green, Frederick Gebhard, A.J. Cassatt, Foxhall P. Keene, John G. Follansbee and Frederick H. Prince founded the National Association for Steeplechase. When it was first founded, its mission was to make the sport popular in the US and help it grow across the Atlantic. For...
The History of Steeplechase Horse Racing
Horse > The History of Steeplechase Horse Racing
Princess Party Ideas - Give Your Little Girl the Royal Treatment
Princess Party Ideas - Give Your Little Girl the Royal Treatment
by: John Lenaghan
If you?ve got a special little girl between the ages of about 3 & 7, then a princess birthday party could be the big social event of the year!
When looking for princess party ideas, it?s obvious to think of pink but don?t limit your imagination to pink fluffy dresses and pink frosting for birthday cakes. With some imagination, your ideas can create a very special party!
Let?s start with decorations. Helium balloons can create a stunning castle arch and once your guests are indoors then have them sit on a princess throne for a souvenir photo in an overstuffed chair which has been decorated with floral garlands, crepe paper or shiny fabric.
Activities for Princess Parties
Princesses love to wear crowns. You can buy inexpensive plastic crowns as well as fake "jewels" for each princess to make a birthday party hat. Inexpensive beading sets can...
Princess Party Ideas - Give Your Little Girl the Royal Treatment
Horse > Princess Party Ideas - Give Your Little Girl the Royal Treatment
Miscellaneous Racing Sports
Miscellaneous Racing Sports
by: Joel Noah
Racing is a sport that has been in existence literally for thousands of years. It?s certainly progressed since the days of the chariot races in ancient Greece but the drive behind racing still remains the same. When people race, regardless if it?s cars, boats, horses or themselves they do it to win. Being declared the fastest is the ultimate goal.
Races have progressed significantly since their inception. History shows that the first races were on foot; two or more men racing one another to determine which was the fastest. We still have foot races today and they can be incredibly competitive with challengers vying for the prestige of Olympic gold medals.
Races involving cars have gained popularity in recent years. Motor sports fans can attest the fact that watching a Formula One or NASCAR race can get the blood pumping. The drivers race at breakneck speeds with an incredible amount of precision....
Miscellaneous Racing Sports
Horse > Miscellaneous Racing Sports