Best Mate can still be golden

13 April 2012

Huntingdon will be packed to the rafters tomorrow for the return of Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Best Mate who comes up against the Champion Hurdle fourth Geos and the highly regarded French chaser Douze Douze as he returns to action in the Peterborough Chase.

Douze Douze falls into the couldbe-anything category after making a winning return over hurdles last month and, given that he gets ten pounds from Best Mate and has the advantage of a run, there could be a race on here.

The market will be fascinating, but the Henrietta Knight-trained Best Mate has so much pace - both between and over his fences - that it is impossible to desert him.

Fitness should not be a problem - he has won first time out in each of the last three seasons - and Douze Douze will have to be all that French trainer Guillaume Macaire says he is and more in order to prevent him making it four.

Although Middleham trainer Ferdy Murphy is not holding so much 'folding' as usual after being fined £4,000 on Wednesday for bringing racing into disrepute, the genial Irishman could be back in the black again at Ascot tomorrow when Truckers Tavern tackles the £50,000 showcase handicap.

Murphy thinks the world of this powerful seven-year-old, who bolted up on his first three starts over fences and ran a cracking race over an inadequate two miles at the Cheltenham Festival when staying on powerfully to finish fourth behind the exceptional Moscow Flyer in the Arkle Chase.

Things did not go Fondmort's way in the second half of last season, and Nicky Henderson's gelding will also warrant plenty of respect now that he's been freshened up by a break.

However, Fondmort is five pounds worse off with Truckers Tavern having finished five lengths behind him at Cheltenham.

More importantly, Truckers Tavern will have the testing ground he seems to relish this time, and that could just swing the balance in his favour as he bids to give the former crack Irish amateur Davy Russell his first big winner since he linkedup with Murphy three weeks ago.

Last season's Grand National winner Bindaree looked in good order bounding up the all-weather gallop at Taunton on Tuesday. He should be much more at home back at Aintree in Sunday's Becher Chase than was the case over hurdles at Wetherby three weeks ago.

He wasn't at all knocked about once the leaders got away from him there and is not out of things despite top weight. Goguenard has also run very well over this unique course in the past and lines up fresh from a battling success on that same Wetherby card.

Blowing Wind is another with plenty to recommend after finishing third in the last two Nationals, but Village King could prove the value bet at each-way odds.

No-one could say this nine-yearoldhas been a model of consistency over the years, but he went very well for a long way in the National two years ago and seems to have rediscovered his zest for racing recently.

He jumped boldly throughout when second in a valuable handicap at Chepstow last month and still looks on a handy mark after being raised just two pounds for that effort.

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