Muristek
Live updates from day one as fans return to the FestivalTalking Horses: Greg Wood marks your card for today’s actionAnd feel free to email John or tweet him @JohnBrewin_
A small(ish) but select field for the opening race of the meeting will be sent on their way by the traditional roar from the heaving grandstands. About a dozen of us tried our best to match it last year, by the way, but it just wasn’t the same. Anyway, the 2022 renewal has all the strands you would hope for in the opening race, including an early chance for the Brits to get a winner on the board, as Constitution Hill, from the Nicky Henderson yard, is one of no more than three home-trained horses that could start favourite for a Grade One race this week. It is “could” rather than will, as Dysart Dynamo has replaced him as the narrow favourite this morning, though it is still very tight – 9-4 versus 5-2 – and either or both could head the market at 1.30pm. Jonbon, a stable companion of Constitution Hill, is also in with a big shout – all three horses are unbeaten so far – while Mighty Potter (Gordon Elliott) and Mullins’s second-string Kilcruit, runner-up when odds-on for the Bumper here last year, are also priced up at single-figure odds. For me, it came down to a straight choice between Constitution Hill and Dysart Dynamo, and the latter made slightly more appeal as a) the Irish Grade Two form could be on a slightly higher level than Constitution Hill’s Grade One win on heavy ground in January, and b) the time of Dysart Dynamo’s wide-margin success last time lends a little weight to that theory. It’s a fascinating contest though, and victory for any of the top five in the market could not be classed as a surprise.
Am led to believe this refers to the declarations for the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase on Thursday, which features just four runners: Bob Olinger, Busselton, El Barra, Galopin Des Champs. That’s a good clash between two talking horses in the first and last of that list is keenly awaited but such a slim field is the latest argument against the five-day festival that has been debated ad infinitum.
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